The Avatar: God in Human Form

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Swami Shivananda, one of Ramakrishna's disciples, said: " If God does

not come down as a human being, how will human beings love him? That

is why He comes to human beings as a human being. People can love Him

as a father, mother, brother, friend—they can take any of these

attitudes. And He comes to each in whatever form that person loves. "

 

Throughout the ages, spiritual renewal has come to humanity through

God manifesting in human form. The Sanskrit word " avatar " literally

means " descent of God. " Most of the world's religions have been given

impetus and direction by these spiritual giants—the incarnations,

prophets, and messengers of God. Jesus and Buddha, Rama and Krishna,

Moses and Muhammad, Chaitanya and Ramakrishna—all have been

torchbearers in the world of spirituality, pouring new energy into

religions that were sliding into hypocrisy and self-indulgence.

 

The Bhagavad Gita declared thousands of years ago:

 

When goodness grows weak, When evil increases, I make myself a body.

In every age I come back To deliver the holy, To destroy the sin of

the sinner, To establish righteousness.

 

One of the great distinctions between Western and Eastern thought is

that the West tends to think in terms of linear time—the world and

human history having a definitive beginning, middle, and end. On this

horizontal time line, God has specific, historical interventions. In

contrast, the East thinks in terms of great cycles: ascension and

descension, creation and destruction, growth and decay; these cycles

are seen as continually repeating waves in an eternal cosmic process.

Civilizations, religions, and individuals are all part of this

ongoing cycle. The appearance of the avatar is essential to this

eternal movement of spiritual decline followed by regeneration.

 

According to Vedanta, spiritual truth is eternal and universal: no

particular religion or sect can have a monopoly on it. The truth that

Christ discovered is the same truth that was revealed to the sages of

the Upanishads; it is the same truth that Krishna and Buddha taught

as well. Gautama said that there were many Buddhas before him, and in

the years to come there will be many more manifestations of God on

earth.

 

Is there a purpose in all this? Yes. First, every avatar has a

specific message to impart to humanity: Muhammad taught equality and

the brotherhood of humanity; Christ revealed the primacy of God's

love over the letter of the Law; Buddha rejected priestcraft and

taught people to be lamps unto themselves; Krishna taught mental

equanimity and detached action; Ramakrishna taught the ideal of the

harmony of religions.Each incarnation has a message particular to the

age in which he appears.

 

The second reason why the avatar incarnates is to reestablish the one

eternal religion—spiritual truth. While every avatar has specific

teachings, all incarnations come to pour spiritual fire into a world

sinking into religious mediocrity. No matter where the avatar

appears on earth, the entire world is uplifted and regenerated by his

advent.

 

Does this mean that, according to Vedanta, God can be realized only

through his personal aspect? No. Does this mean that Vedanta says

that we must think of God as a person? No.

 

What Vedanta says is that God can and does manifest through human

form, and that, for most people, it is easier to meditate upon and

love a God with form rather than a nebulous idea of infinite being,

consciousness, and bliss. This, however, is a matter of temperament.

Many people achieve spiritual growth through meditation upon the

avatar; they are followers of the path of bhakti yoga. Yet for others

this is entirely the wrong approach: those who are more intellectual

than emotional may well achieve greater spiritual awareness through

jnana yoga.