Lesson 4: Vishnu
The Ten Incarnations
Vishnu is the supreme God in charge of preservation of the universe. From time to time he appears on the earth as some living creature. He divulges the purpose of these incarnations in the Bhagwad Geeta, which he recites to Arjuna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra during his incarnation as Krishna. He says, "Whenever there is decay of righteousness and rise of unrighteousness, then I manifest Myself. For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked and for the establishment of the righteousness, I am born in every age."
So far nine incarnations of Vishnu are over and the tenth is to follow. These ten incarnations are collectively known as "Dash avatar" or Ten Incarnations.
The first incarnation was that of a Fish and is known as Matsya Avatar. In this incarnation the Fish saved Manu, the son of the Sun and one of each species of animals and birds from the deluge so that life could begin afresh after the waters had subsided. This Manu is different from the Manu from whom humans are descended. In this incarnation he also retrieved the Vedas from the horse-headed demon, Hayagriva. The second incarnation was the Kurma Avatar or that of a Tortoise. During the churning of the oceans to elicit the nectar of immortality the mountain Mandara was used as the stirrer. When this began to bore a hole in the earth the Tortoise rested the mountain on its back till the pot of nectar was recovered. Vishnu then took the form of a beautiful maiden, Mohini, and ensured that only the demi-Gods received the nectar. Varaha Avatar or the Boar incarnation was next. The demon Hiranyaksha had dragged the earth to the bottom of the cosmic ocean. Varaha killed the demon and freed the earth. Lord Narsimha, half Man and half Lion, appeared next from a pillar to protect his devotee Prahlada from Hiranyakshipu who was bent on slaughtering everyone and everything connected to God. Vamana, the Dwarf was the fifth incarnation. The Demon king Bali was performing a sacrifice that would make him invincible. Before he could complete it Vamana appeared and asked for land that he could cover in three steps. The proud king agreed. The dwarf then grew in size and covered the earth in one step, the heavens in the next and placed the third step on King Bali's head and pushed him into the netherworld. Parshurama was the next incarnation. He was a sage who killed the Kshatriyas or warrior class, who had cornered power and were misusing their strength and forces on earth. Lord Rama was the seventh incarnation. He personifies the best of human nature and symbolizes righteousness in thought, speech and action. He is an ideal for all time. In this incarnation he slew Ravana who was the epitome of evil. Lord Krishna the eighth incarnation waged a relentless battle against evil. In his childhood he slew many demons and later guided the Pandavas against their cousins, the Kauravas, in the epic battle of Mahabharata. This battle, along with the killing of Ravana, is the landmark victories of good over evil. Buddha was the ninth incarnation. He was born in a royal family but renounced his wealth to lead the life of a mendicant. He spread the message of non-violence and preached that by freeing oneself from desires and attachments to worldly possessions one can achieve enlightenment. The last incarnation Kalki will appear at end of the current epoch, Kali Yuga, to exterminate in millions all corrupt evil people and will reinforce moral sense and humanitarian views in all good people.
The first five incarnations are sometimes referred to as incomplete incarnations because in these Lord Vishnu appeared out of nowhere at a point in time and after completing the single immediate task at hand, vanished into nothingness. The next four and presumably the last one as well, have a complete life history from birth to death as a "mortal". These are therefore known as complete incarnations.
The first four incarnations took place in Satya Yuga. The fifth to the seventh took place in Treta Yuga. Krishna the eighth incarnation took place in Dwapar Yuga and Buddha in Kali Yuga. The incarnation Kalki will be towards the end of Kali Yuga when the world will be destroyed and Creation begin anew.
The chronological order from fish to amphibian to mammal to half man to dwarf to man is no coincidence. It follows the sequence of the theory of evolution. And Hindu mythology is not alone in this. Several centuries before Darwin formulated his theory the Bible said that God first created the creatures of the water, then the beasts of the land and finally man in his own image. It is evident that long before it was established by science our ancestors were aware of the evolutionary process.
Optional Exercises
4a. An account of the ten incarnations can be had at the following site. There are some images as well.
http://members.tripod.com/~srinivasp/myt...
4b. A detailed account of some of the incarnations is available in Hindu myths in the chapter on Vishnu starting at page 175.
4c Read the Creation from Genesis 1 at the following site. What are the similarities and differences between Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, Creation from Genesis 1 and The Ten Incarnations?
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/kjv/gen0...
4d. God coming on Earth to vanquish sinners is not restricted to Hinduism. The Second coming of Christ echoes exactly the same sentiment. The following site gives some quotations from the Bible in this regard.
http://en.bibleinfo.com/topics/topic.htm...
Yeat’s poem The Second Coming imagines the second coming as that of a monstrous entity. Why is that? Are there parallels in Hindu Mythology? The poem can be read at
http://www.well.com/user/eob/poetry/The_...
