O’ Lord ! O’ My Lord ! May I never forget You !

|| Shri Hari ||

[5] Theory of Incarnation in the Gita

(गीता में अवतारवाद)

tvameva mata cha pita tvameva

tvameva bandhuscha sakha tvameva |

tvameva vidyaa dravinam tvameva

tvameva sarvam mama devadeva ||

Swami Ramsukhdas

|| Shri Hari ||

[5] Theory of Incarnation in the Gita

(गीता में अवतारवाद)

सर्वागमेषु ये प्रोक्ता अवतारा जगत्प्रभोः।

तद्रहस्यं हि गीतायां कृष्णेन कथितं स्वयम्॥

An incarnation (descent) means one who descends from his original state. As a teacher, while teaching alphabet to a boy pronounces and writes the letters himself and then asks the boy to pronounce and write those letters – this is the teacher’s descent to the level of that boy. Similarly God descends to the mortal world in order to teach people a lesson in the practical and spiritual spheres.

God does not take birth like common human beings but He enacts his divine sports, as He remains in the womb of Mother for a certain period. When Lord Krishna comes to the womb of Devaki, first He comes to the mind of Vasudeva and then enters into Devaki through her eyes. Thus she conceives mentally rather than physically (Shri Mahabharata 10/2/18 – Anvitartha Prakashika). In the Gita, Lord Krishna declares that He in spite of being unborn comes into being viz his birth-less-ness remains the same. He in spite of being the Lord of all beings and the world; obeys his parents and His godliness or supremacy remains the same. “Men take birth overpowered by their innate nature; while the Lord manifests Himself keeping Prakriti (Nature) under His control” (4/6).

“He embodies Himself when there is decline of righteousness and rise of un-righteousness” (4/7). Explaining the purpose of His manifestations, He declares that, “He is born from age to age for the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked and for establishing righteousness” (4/8) and “Those who without knowing My supreme birth-less and imperishable nature as the great Lord of beings disregard Me in My human garb are deluded (foolish). Hopes, action and knowledge of the deluded persons embracing a fiendish, demoniac and delusive nature prove to be in vain viz do not bear the real fruit” (9/11-12). Those who without knowing Me, the unmanifested, unborn and imperishable Supreme Deity regard Me as an ordinary human being subject to birth and death are fools. I do not manifest Myself before such persons” (7/24-25).

An actor while acting does not disclose His identity because the disclosure spoils the play. Similarly when God descends to the mortal plane, He is not manifest at all (7/25). If He discloses His identity then He cannot enact the play. If a friend, while witnessing the horrible form of the actor is afraid of him, the actor discloses his identity through gestures by consoling him not to be afraid; so does God console His devotee by exhorting him not to be afraid through the disclosure of His identity.

There were two friends. One of them displayed the things for sale on the footpath, which was not the market place. Another friend disguised as police constable scolded his friend for his illegal action and threatened him that very severe action would be taken against him. When the former being frightened began to close his shop by removing things the latter disclosed his identity and asked his friend not to be frightened. Similarly, when Arjuna was terrified after having seen the Lord’s terrible cosmic form, the Lord by disclosing his identity consoled him.

Now a doubt arises as to why does God not incarnate at present, when righteousness is on the decline and there is rise of unrighteousness and thus noble persons are suffering?

The answer is that the time is not yet ripe for God to incarnate because according to the scriptures in the Treta Yuga, the demons had eaten the saints and sages alive and there were heaps of their bones. Such kind of atrocity and inhuman massacre is not yet seen. As far as the decline of righteousness is concerned, God sets that right by sending His representatives or the saints, who through their words and deeds lead people to the right and righteous path.

From one view point, the incarnation of God is constant. The world itself is His manifestation. For strivers, His manifestation is in the form of the means and the ends, for devotees in the form of devotion; for the followers of the discipline of knowledge and action in the form of the knowable and duty respectively. Similarly He manifests Himself as food stuff, water, clothes and medicines respectively for the hungry, the thirsty, the naked and the sick. He also reveals Himself as pleasures for the voluptuous, as riches for the greedy, as shade for the person who wants to escape heat and as woolen clothes for a man who seeks refuge from cold. It means that God manifests Himself as sentient or insentient, moving or unmoving beings etc. because in fact there is nothing besides God. “All this is God” (7/19); “I am being as well as non-being” (9/19). But he who regards this world, the manifestation of God, as an object to be enjoyed and regards himself as the master is ruined and thus follows the cycle of birth and death.

Those who hold the opinion that God is only formless (unmanifested), he cannot be endowed with form, are all wrong because every being is sometimes unmanifested but the other time it is unmanifested. All beings are unmanifested in their original state, manifested in their mid-state and unmanifested again in their end state (2/28). The earth has also two forms – the unmanifested and the manifested. Water in the form of atoms is in unmanifested form while in the form of vapour, clouds and hail etc. is in manifested form. When air does not blow, it is in the unmanifested form; but when it blows it is in the manifested form. Fire remains concealed in the matchbox stick, wood and stone etc. but it reveals itself by friction. Similarly, the entire universe undergoes this process of manifestation at the time of creation and un-manifestation at the time of dissolution in a cyclic manner. When beings, the five gross elements (earth, water, fire, air and space) and the entire universe can be both manifest (endowed with form) and un-manifest (formless), why can God not be both? Is there any obstacle in his being manifest and un-manifest? The Lord Himself declares in the Gita, “The whole universe is pervaded by Me in My unmanifested form” (9/4). Here the Lord has declared Himself to be un-manifested. But the term ‘Me’ explains that He is also manifested. In the twenty-fourth verse of the seventh chapter the Lord declares that those who think of Him as only un-manifest (formless) are ignorant and also those who think of Him only as manifest are also ignorant because both of them do not know His Supreme Nature.

Question – What does the body of the incarnation of God consist of?

Answer – The birth of common people is determined by their actions of the past, but God manifests Himself of His own accord. Bodies of common people are formed by the union of the menstrual excretion of mother and the semen of father; while God reveals Himself though He enacts the play of His birth like common people. He declares, “I manifest Myself” (4/6). Our life-span is limited and it is determined by our own actions; while God can live as long as He wishes in human garb of His own accord. Common people have to face favourable and unfavourable circumstances and then they feel happy or sad respectively. However, it is not the same case with the Lord.

Bodies of men are material nature, composed of five basic elements (earth, water, fire, air and space); while God’s body consists of Truth, Consciousness and Bliss consolidated (Manasa 2/127/3). By Truth His body is formed, by Consciousness His body is illumined and by Bliss there is attraction in His body. Everybody whether he is a believer or a non-believer likes his body. Thus, like other human beings, His body does not consist of bones, blood and flesh etc.; though while enacting the play in the human garb He poses to process the material-body composed of five basic elements. So according to the sentiments of His devotees, He feels hungry, thirsty, drowsy, hot, cold and frightened.

Though the bodies of other semi-gods and demi-gods are also said to be divine, yet they are also composed of the basic five elements. In the bodies of the gods residing in heaven, there is pre-dominance of fire; in the wind-god, there is pre-dominance of air; in the water-god there is pre-dominance of water; while in human body there is pre-dominance of earth. But God’s body is not composed of these five elements; actually it is spiritual in nature. In spite of being called divine, the bodies of semi-gods and demi-gods are mortal. The ‘Ajana gods’ merge into God at the time of dissolution while those who become gods as a result of their meritorious deeds, return to world of mortals on the exhaustion of their merits and then die. (God incurs neither virtues nor sins. No one can lay him under a curse, yet He accepts the curse in order to carry out the ethical propriety.)

Question – What is the difference between the omniscience of a Yogi and that of God?

Answer – The knowledge or power of a Yogi which he normally achieves through his spiritual practice etc. is a limited one. If he wants to know some incident of the past or the future; or some one’s mind then he can know it by concentrating his mind. But God knows the past, the present and the future of the entire creation automatically without concentrating His mind; hence His omniscience is spontaneous and unparalleled.

Question – Like God, a Yogi can also maintain his body for a very long time. Then what is the difference between the two?

Answer – A Yogi can maintain his body by breathing exercise called ‘Pranayama’, which is the exercise of the process of restraining breath and finally exhaling air from the other nostril; but he has to depend on this breathing process. But God is ever independent. Hence, a Yogi’s power limited as it depends upon the means while God’s power is limitless as it is axiomatic.

Question – A Yogi is called as God and an incarnation of God is also called as God. What is the difference between the two?

Answer – Being possessed of six glories (beauty, wealth, power, fame, knowledge and renunciation) and being endowed with accomplishments such as Anima, Mahima and Garima etc. a Yogi may be called as God; but actually he is not God. The reason is that he cannot create the universe independently. If like Vishvamitra he, by his special power of austerity, creates the universe to a certain extent, his power is still limited as he has to depend on the power of austerity.

The power, which is achieved through practice is limited, while the power of God is limitless and infinite because it is not achieved through any process, it is spontaneous and omnipresent.

Question – The representatives of God such as great sage Veda Vyasa are also called as God. How are they different from an incarnation of God?

Answer – The representatives of God such as great sage Veda Vyasa are incarnations of God possessing limited powers. They establish righteousness, protect the good but do not destroy the wicked. It is He, rather than His representatives, Who destroys the wicked.

In these days several persons are bent upon proving themselves to be God-head and so they want themselves to be addressed as God. This is nothing but mere hypocrisy. People should be aware of such cheats, who want to be worshipped in order to achieve their narrow selfish motives.

The believers in a sect can address the founder of their sect as God, because of their reverence and devotion to him, but in fact he is not God. He can be worthy of worship more* than even God because he leads them from evil to the good path of conduct and conduces them to spiritualism, yet he cannot become God.

* = Saint Tulsidas also declares in the Ramacharitamanas, “I believe that Lord Rama’s devotees are superior to Him because the Lord is the ocean while saints (devotees) are clouds, which cause rain by taking water from the ocean. Similarly, the Lord is the sandal wood tree, while saints are the wind, which carries the scent from the tree and spreads it (Manasa 7/120/8-9).

Narayana ! Narayana !! Narayana !!!

From book in Hindi "Gita Darpan" By Swami Ramsukhdasji