Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
All About Avatars
What is the most important difference between the Lord and ourselves? This may
appear to be a rather naïve and simplistic question and a rhetorical one at
that, not really in need of an answer. The differences between Emperuman and
ourselves are so vast, so many and so unbridgeable, that it seems futile to
embark upon such an enquiry. However, at least for academic interest, it is
worthwhile looking into how He differs from us. While the aspects of divergence
are indeed many, one in particular is extremely significant and interesting,
not to say rewarding too. We are told that one, who understands this particular
distinction between the Jeevatma and the Paramatma, is freed of his mortal
coils, never to be enshackled again.
To understand this specific aspect of difference between the Lord and
ourselves, we must first study an aspect of identity between the two. Both,
viz., the Supreme Lord and we insignificant mortals, are born time and again in
this mundane world. As far as we are concerned, we are caught up in the
bottomless cesspool of Samsara, sucking us down each time we try to get out of
it. Despite our occasional and feeble efforts to rid ourselves of our mortal
shackles during each birth, we fall again and again helplessly into the SamsAra
sAgaram. The moment one birth is over, the soul has to hop into another waiting
body, leaving its former lifeless shareeram behind. There appears to be no way
out of this maze, which keeps us meandering for innumerable lifetimes. "Piravi
Perum Kadal" is how Valluvar describes this interminable cycle of births and
deaths, attesting to its depth, breadth, vastness and impossibility of
surmounting. "Punarapi jananam, punarapi maraNam", laments another worthy,
referring to the monotonous regularity with which birth and death occur. The
worthlessness of such an existence is brought out by Azhwars in all its
despicability-
"pirandum setthum nindru idarum ip pEdamai"
"avattamE piravi tandAi"
"mAri mAri pala pirappum pirandu" etc.
If this is our plight, it appears that the Lord is not much better off. We hear
from several impeccable sources that He too is born in this world, not once or
twice, but innumerable times. We can't believe our ears-the Lord, and being
born here, just like ourselves, sporting a mortal form like us! And being born
to human mothers, after a ten-month imprisonment in their wombs! And dying too
occasionally, just like we mortals do! He displays extremely human emotions
during His sojourn on earth, as we too do.
We thus see that just like us, Emperuman too is born in this world. There are a
number of scriptural texts, which attest to the Lord taking birth amidst us,
despite His exalted stature. Here is one from the Purusha Suktam, acclaimed to
be the essence of all Shruti-"ajAyamAnO bahudhA vijAyatE". This vAkya tells us
that the Lord, though birthless, is born many a time. Sri Nammazhwar, in his
faithful transcription of Vedas, renders the same thus-"Pirappil pal piravi
PerumAn". And Emperuman Himself tells Arjuna in the Gita that He is indeed born
many a time, despite being birthless, immutable and the Lord of all-
"ajOpi san avyayAtmA, bhootAnAm IsvarOpi san
Prakritim svAm adhishtAya sambhavAmi Atma mAyayA"
Sri Nammazhwar is moved beyond measure by the Lord taking birth as a mere fish,
boar, lion and turtle, despite being the exalted Lord of the
Celestials-"ennindra yOniyumAi pirandAi imayOr talaivA!"
Lest we be misled, by this apparent identity between the Lord and ourselves,
into believing that He is no better than us, let us consider in what respects
His births differ from ours.
1. Cause-We are born because our unending baggage of Karma pushes us again
and again into mortal coils, to experience the fruits, good and bad, of our
deeds. We have absolutely no choice in the matter, nor can we refrain from
being born or to take a sabbatical in between two births. The inexorable
rotation of the Karma Chakram ensures that we are endlessly imprisoned in our
mundane shackles.
The Lord, on the other hand, is born out of His own sweet will. There is
absolutely no compulsion for Him to take birth, nor is He subject to any
external influence in this regard. When He is born in this world, it is because
He wants to, not because He has to. "IcchA griheeta abhimatOru dEham" says Sri
Koorattazhwan, attesting to the absolutely voluntary nature of the Lord's
avatArAs.
2. Purpose-We undergo the phenomena of endless births, so that we can work
off some of the accumulated baggage of Karma. However, in doing so, we tend to
increase our burden through uninformed action. There is thus no noble purpose
to our lives.
In contrast, the Lord has a three-fold and exalted purpose to all His noble
births, as He Himself narrates in the Gita-
"ParitrANAya sAdhUnAm, vinAsAya cha dushkritAm
Dharma samstApanArtthAya sambhavAmi yugE yugE"
The first and foremost mission of Emperuman is the protection of the saintly,
who know of no other refuge than the Lord. If it becomes necessary in this
process, the Lord also destroys the evil-minded, which, however, affords Him
little pleasure. A third purpose to the Lord's births is the reestablishment of
Righteousness on a firm footing. We are told that there was a fourth aim too,
in the NrisimhAvatAra-that of proving the words of His ardent devotee to be
true ("Satyam vidhAtum nija bhritya bhAshitam"). Sri PrahlAda had declared to
his sceptical father that Sri Hari did indeed inhabit all beings and objects,
including a pillar or an insignificant blade of grass. And when the asurA smote
the palace pillar to test the truth of his credulous son's words, Sri Nrisimha
emerged therefrom the very same second, just to prove His devotee's words true.
3. Periodicity-"ShatAyur vai Purusha:" says the Shruti, pegging the human
lifespan at a hundred years. There are instances of people living beyond a
hundred, but they are rare. As such, even if one is able to live for a full
hundred years, one has to be necessarily reborn at least once a century.
With the Lord, however, it is different-He is born only once in a Yugam
("sambhavami yugE yugE")-roughly every 900000 years, on an average, allowing
for the differing durations of various yugAs. Sri Ramanuja adds, however, that
there is no fixed periodicity to the Lord's avatArAs-He is born as and when
necessary, sometimes twice or more in the same Yugam and sometimes not at all
during a particular Yugam.
4. Effect-Each new birth only adds to our woes and to our already
unbearable baggage of dastardly deeds, with the result that the Soul is
progressively clouded by successive layers of KArmic dirt, becoming totally
unrecognisable, vis-à-vis its original luminous, wise and blissful self.
The Lord, however, adds more and more glory to Himself, with every avatAra.
From each such sojourn on earth, His splendour increases manifold and He
emerges with immeasurably greater grandeur every time He takes an avatAra-"navO
navO bhavati jAyamAna:" says the Shruti.
5. Form-The form we take in each birth is dictated by our Karma. Though we
are human beings in this birth, we may very well be trees or frogs in our next,
depending on the composition of our deeds and misdeeds.
Emperuman takes the form He wishes to, whether it be a fish, boar, or
Magnificent Monarch. We only have to look again at Sri Koorattazhwan's tribute
mentioned above, to confirm that all the Lord's forms are of His own choice.
6. Timing-For us, there is no particular time for birth. As soon as one
life ends, we are automatically pushed into another body and birth. The Lord
tells us that He is born as and whenever Dharma is debilitated and adharma
rears its ugly head menacingly-
"YadA yadA hi dharmasya glAni: bhavati BhArata!
abhyuttAnam adharmasya, tadA AtmAnam srijAmyaham"
7. Company-When we come to think of it, the Soul has to plough a lonely furrow,
having none to accompany it on its births. Though each birth brings us new
relationships in the form of mother, father, wife, sons and so on, essentially
all these arise from physical relationships, which do not exist in the soul.
The Lord, however, is accompanied on all earthly sojourns by His beloved
Consort, who never forsakes His side. Whatever role He adopts, Sri Mahalakshmi
dons a supplementary and complementary role, eminently in accordance with Her
Husband's. We have this on good authority, that of Swami Desikan-"yat dharmai:
iha dharmiNI viharatE nAnAkriti: nAyikA".
8. Mutual Utility-We scarcely achieve anything during our births. Even if
we do, we are of hardly any utility to Emperuman. The Lord, on the other hand,
is born every time specifically in an attempt to ensure that we are not
reborn-"uyiraLippAn ennindra yOniyumAi pirandAi imayOr talaivA!" exclaims Sri
Nammazhwar, marvelling at the Lord's penchant for undertaking an avatAra,
solely for the purpose of emancipating as many He can.
9. The Exception-"Whoever is born must die: and as surely as that, whoever
dies must be reborn" says the Gita ("JAtasya hi dhruvO mrityu:, dhruvam janma
mritasya cha"). Till the very last of our Karma is worked off or is pardoned by
the Lord, we have to keep on being born and dying. The Lord, however, is an
exception to the general rule of the dead being reborn and the living destined
to die. Birth or death is absolutely of His choice-He comes into the mundane
world or returns to His permanent abode at Sri Vaikuntam, as He pleases.
Having considered some of the differences between our births and His, it would
be interesting for us to look at some of the aspects of the Lord's avatArAs.
1. How many avatArAs have been there so far? From childhood, we have been
hearing of the DasAvatArAs and would be inclined to think that the Lord has
come down to the earth ten times in all, as is evident from the following sloka-
"Matsya: KoormO VarAhascha NArasimha: atha VAmana:
RAmO RAmacha RAmascha Krishna: Kalki: iti tE dasa"
(Incidentally, this sloka also proves wrong, those who contend that Buddha was
one of the Lord's own avatArAs).
This, however, is not correct, for Emperuman Himself tells us that His
avatArAs are not merely ten, but "many". The fact that the usually precise Lord
doesn't care to mention a number, is indicative of the fact that the avatArAs
are indeed countless. This is borne out by the Gita vAkyA, "bahooni mE
vyateetAni janmAni tava cha Arjuna!". The independent Shruti also attests to
this fact, by employing almost identical words-"ajAyamAnO bahudhA vijAyatE". We
thus have to conclude that while the DasAvatArAs are the principal ones that
the Lord took, there are also significant others like HayagrIva, Hamsa, Hari
and innumerable others, assumed by Emperuman for similar purposes. The
popularity of the DasAvatArAs is attested by the fact that Swami Desikan
considered these ten avatArAs to be significant enough to compose a separate
stOtra on the same. However, his equal reverence to other avatArAs is brought
out by his Hayagreeva Stotram. The PAncharAtra records several of the Lord's
less-known avatArAs like RAhujit, Purukutsa, Rishabha, JanArdana, et al.
The same Swami Desikan indicates the Vibhava avatArAs as "thity-odd"
("Muppatthu chilvAnam") in Srimad RahasyatrayasAram. This is based on the
varying number quoted in the PAncharAtra texts. While the VishvaksEna SamhitA
puts the number at thirty ("Shat trimsat bhEda bhinnAstu PadmanAbhadhikA:
smritA:"), the Ahirbudhnya SamhitA says that avatArAs are 39 ("VibhavA:
PadmanAbhAdyA: trimsascha nava chaiva hi"). He also says that while these are
principal, there are innumerable auxiliary avatArAs of the Lord.
2. Sometimes, Emperuman doesn't undertake a full-scale avatArA, but enters
already existing JeevAtmAs and achieves His purpose through them. Examples are
Sri ParasurAma and Sri Krishna DvaipAyana (VyAsa). These avatArAs were
undertaken by injecting His power into existing JeevAs, for achieving specific
purposes. While in the ParasurAma avatAra it was the annihilation of the
corrupt and cruel ruling class, thereby affording relief to the populace, in
the case of Sri Vyasa, it was for the purpose of dividing the endless Vedas
into four suitable parts for convenient study and for the authorship of Sri
MahAbhArata and the BrahmaSUtrAs.
3. We often confront a question from the cynical-If Rama and Krishna were
indeed the Lord Himself, why should they be subject to pain, sorrow and
distress on several occasions? Isn't Emperuman, by His very nature, beyond all
things bad and sorrowful? And if He does indeed suffer like ordinary mortals,
how are we to attach credence to His supremacy?
Swami Desikan explains that the Lord, as required by the occasion and as
warranted by circumstances, conceals or exhibits certain of His traits. It is
for the actor to display appropriate emotions and actions as warranted by the
scene and the script. Similarly, Emperuman too hides His supremacy and affects
to be an ordinary mortal, during the Rama and Krishna avatArAs. The Prince of
Ayodhya, who considered Himself to be a mere mortal ("AtmAnam mAnusham manyE,
RAmam DasarathAtmajam") and displayed extreme distress on Sri Mythily's
abduction, is not averse to showing us facets of His overwhelming supremacy and
overlordship, on the occasions of JatAyu MOksham and Sethu Bandhanam (building
a bridge across the unfathomable and vast waters of the ocean). Similarly, Sri
Krishna, who ran away from battle with JarAsandha, hiding His traits of
invincibility and boundless bravery, chooses to display His supremacy in all
its indescribable splendour, during the Visvaroopa Darsanam accorded to Arjuna.
Thus, merely because the Lord affects certain demeanours during His avatArAs,
in response to the need of the occasion and hour, it doesn't follow that any of
His innumerable auspicious attributes are missing during His descents into the
human world.
4. Another basic question is about the need for avatArAs. If the Lord is as
omnipotent as He is touted to be, can He not destroy the wicked, protect the
saintly and shore up Dharma, sitting at Sri Vaikunttam? Is His will not
powerful enough to accomplish all these with a mere thought, without
necessitating His personal attendance at the scene of action, in the form of an
avatArA? For instance, let us consider the instance of embattled Gajendra and
His plaintive appeal to the Lord for protection.
Having decided to help Gajendra, why did the Lord personally rush to the scene
to do it? Could He not have done it sitting at Srivaikuntam itself and by
merely willing the crocodile dead, thereby liberating the elephant?
Equally, He could have sent His Chakra to attend to the chore. What was the
need for Him to indulge in overkill, as it were, by coming down all the way
from His abode to destroy a mere crocodile?
A rich man kept asking the aforesaid question and was unsatisfied with all
reasonable answers. To teach him a lesson, his friend came running to him one
day and announced that the man's son had fallen into a well. Dismayed at the
news and in a panic, the rich man dropped whatever he was doing and rushed out
to the well, only to find the news to be false. When he remonstrated with the
friend for having misled him, the friend retorted, " Even though you have a lot
of servants, did you think of sending any of them for rescuing the boy? If this
is the depth of your attachment for your boy, just consider the urgency the
Lord, who is the Universal Father, might have felt for freeing Gajendra!"
Stories apart, the fact of the matter is that while the crocodile could have
very well been destroyed by proxy, Gajendra's happiness at the Lord's
appearance on the scene and his joy in feasting his eyes on the divine form,
could not have been achieved without Emperuman's personal presence. One of the
important purposes of the Lord's avataras is "ParithrANAya sAdhUnAm". While
mere "thrANam" or protection can be afforded even without the Lord being
present, "ParithrANam" or comprehensive protection includes affording the
devotee the immeasurable bliss of seeing the Lord, and could not be carried out
without Emperuman materializing in person.
The Bhagavat Gita tells us that one who understands fully the purpose, nature
and true glory of the Lord's avatArAs, is liberated from his mortal coils,
never again to be born in this mundane world.
We are again assailed by a doubt-if indeed liberation can be attained merely by
knowing the avatAra Rahasyam, wouldn't all the strategies therefor, prescribed
by Shastras (like Bhakti, Prapatti, etc) become needless and futile? Who in his
right mind would chose a difficult, strenuous and long-drawn upAya like Bhakti
YOga, when the same goal can be achieved through a mere knowledge of avatAra
Rahasyam?
Sri Ramanuja clarifies in his beautiful commentary, that wisdom as to the
Lord's avatArAs doesn't lead directly to MOksham-it destroys the accumulated
sins which stand in the way of adoption of an appropriate strategy for
liberation. Once this is done, the individual concerned is enabled to follow
the path to MOksham, as prescribed in the Shastras, like Bhakti or Prapatti.
The term "avatAra" literally means "to come down" or to descend. This is what
the Lord does-He descends from His exalted abode of Paramapadam, to be born in
this world of sin, sadness and sorrow. The Supreme Lord mingles as one with us
sinning and decadent mortals, sharing our happiness and sorrow. Though, in the
literal sense, this may be a descent for Him, it actually enhances His
splendour and glory manifold, thus representing an ascent for Him in real
terms. Also, He descends to earth, so that we may ascend to paradise and
liberation.
Let us conclude with an estimate of how effective the Lord's avatArAs have been
in achieving their objective of emancipation for all. Tiruvarangattu Amudanar
tells us that we mortals have become such hard nuts to crack, with hearts made
of stone and steel, that we would fail to be moved even if the Supreme Lord
were to come in person and stand before us, appealing to us to return to the
path of virtue. Swami Desikan too remarks that Emperuman, having failed to
achieve fully the objective of His avatArAs, took another set of ten avatArAs
in the form of Azhwars (excluding Sri Madhurakavi and Sri Andal), to cure the
inhabitants of this world of their insatiable appetite for sensual pleasures
and material possessions. And having found quite a few escaping the net even
then, the Lord takes birth as Acharyas like Sri Ramanuja, his predecessors and
his descendants, who, till date, have toiled hard to rescue us from the mundane
morass and to lift us on to the terra firma of righteousness, leading us
ultimately to Paradise, through the unfailing strategy of Prapatti. Hence, our
merciful Acharya is the Lord incarnate, though he might appear to be one among
us, made of flesh and blood. Just as we look beyond the stone and mortar of
which divine forms at various temples are made, so too we should discard our
view of the Acharya as a human being and accord to him the high pedestal we
would to Emperuman. Thus our Preceptors are not merely messengers of God, but
the Lord Himself in human form and are entitled to as much veneration,
adoration and obedience, as we accord the other avatArAs of Emperuman.
Srimate Sri LakshmiNrisimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana
Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
dasan, sadagopan
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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