What is Avatar?

Avatar is a Sanskrit word that means, “to descend”. In this sense it means the process of God coming down to the material world for the welfare of all creatures of this universe. An avatar or incarnation is the bodily manifestation of the ultimate Supreme power, Lord Vishnu. One thing to note is that God deliberately descends to the mortal world for special purposes. All other beings come to the world again and again bonded by their karma (i.e. to reap the fruits of their good and bad doings). God comes with His own will, in fact due to His limitless mercy over the creatures of the mortal world. After taking avatar, God guides the creatures of the universe to the path of their improvement so that they can get rid of thier karmic (originating out of good and bad deeds) bondages.

Avatars of the Supreme lord are not separate Gods. There is only one Supreme God and there are various forms that Supreme Lord takes as an aid to humanity in difficult times.



Why Lord Vishnu takes incarnations from time to time?

Lord Vishnu takes incarnation because He is Kripasindhu ( The ocean of mercy). He takes incarnation out of his limitless mercy. He loves all the creatures of the universe so much that He takes incarnations from time to time for their welfare. Lord Krishna also declares this fact in Bhagavad-Gita as follows:

“I manifest Myself personally, whenever there is a decline in righteousness and predominance of righteousness”(BG. 4.7).

So, it can be concluded that Lord Vishnu takes incarnations for the protection of the good, for the destruction of the evil and for the establishment of righteousness.

10 Avatars of Lord Vishnu

1)   Matsyavatara (fish incarnation) The saviour of srishti or creation. Through this form, Lord Vishnu saved the four Vedas from destruction by flood.

2)      Kurma-Avatar (the tortoise incarnation) In this incarnation Lord Vishnu helped the Devas(Demi-Gods) against the Asuras (devils), when they tried to churn the ocean of milk for nectar that could gaurantee eternal life to them. Lord Vishnu held Mt. Mandara on His back to enable Devas an Asurs to use it as churning stick for churn the ocean of milk.

3)      Varahavatara (boar incarnation) Lord Vishnu took this incarnation to free earth from flood waters in which it had been submerged by demon Hiranyaksa. Lord Vishnu killed the demon Hiranyaksa and lifted the earth out of the flood waters in which it had been submerged.

4)      Narasimha-Avatar (semi-man and semi-lion incarnation) When Prahlada, the great devotee of Vishnu was being severely tortured by his father, the demon Hiranyakasipu, Vishnu appeared as Narasimha (man-lion) emerging out of the pillar and killed him.

5)      Vamana Avatar (the dwarf) In this incarnation, Lord Vishnu asked King Bali for a mere three steps of the land. When he agreed, Lord Vishnu assumed His real large form, and measured the whole earth in one step, and sky in second step. Then there was no space for third step in the universe. Then King Bali offered Lord Vishnu to keep third step on his head, so that his promise is full-filled.

6)      Parasurama (the angry warrior) Lord Vishnu incarnated as a brahman priest. On seeing that all kshatriyas (warrior and ruler class) who had become arrogant and were suppressing the brahmans in the world. So, He decided to use weapons (axe) and removed all kshatriyas 21 times to bring their atrocities to the end.

7)      Sri Rama (the perfect human) Lord Rama represents the incarnations that defined the ideal character for Human Beings. In this incarnation Lord Vishnu , as Lord Rama spent 14 years in forests to keep the word of His father. Lord Rama in this incarnation killed many devils including Ravana, that represents evil.

8)      Lord Krishna (the divine statesman) As Lord Krishna, Lord Vishnu became the charioteer of Arjuna in the battle of Kurukshetra in Mahabharata. Lord Sri Krishna is the supreme statesman, warrior, hero, philosopher, poet and teacher. He gave the devotees, the great 'song celestial', the Bhagavad Gita.

9)      Lord Buddha (the enlightened one) To enlighten the world, Lord Vishnu descended the earth as Buddha, the enlightened one.

10)  Kalki Avatar(Riding on a horse) Kalki is going to be the next Avatar of Lord Vishnu.It is believed that He will appear, riding His white horse and drawing a flaming sword, at the end of the Kali Yuga, the dark age through which we are now passing. He will exterminate the evil and restore the dharma, thus will begin a new cycle, Satya Yuga (the age of truth).