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WORLD March 1, 1999 VNN3207 What Is An Avatar? BY GERALD SURYA  USA, Mar 1 (VNN) — "Avatar" a word that is commonly heard but rarely understood. In English, the word has come to mean "an embodiment, a bodily manifestation of the Divine." However, the Sanskrit word avatara means "the descent of God" or simply "incarnation." Here is the definition based on India's ancient Vedas, the oldest and most comprehensive spiritual literature known to man:The Avatara, or incarnation of Godhead, descends from the kingdom of God for [creating and maintaining the] material manifestation. And the particular form of the Personality of Godhead who so descends is called an incarnation, or Avatara. Such incarnations are situated in the spiritual world, the kingdom of God. When They descend to the material creation, They assume the name Avatara. ( Chaitanya-caritamrita 2.20.263 -264) An Avatara is a personal form of the Supreme Being and innumerable such divine forms reside in an eternal spiritual realm. When a personal form of God descends from that higher dimensional realm to the material world, He (or She) is known as an incarnation, or Avatara. By referring to the form of God as an "incarnation," one invokes a Western conception describing a physical symbol which represents or embodies an abstraction. In fact, the Latin root carnis means "flesh." However, in this context, this may be somewhat misleading, since the divine forms of God do not "become flesh" or "take on a material body." An ordinary soul may take on a gross material body, but in the case of God, His 'soul' and His 'body' refer to the same spiritual essence. In fact, the Avataras exhibit God's essential features: They are eternally existent and free from the laws of the matter, time and space. Although They have no obligation to come into contact with the material energy, the Avataras descend into this world for our own protection, instruction and redemption. Although They may potray human weaknesses such as grief and anger, They are never to be considered ordinary people. Human beings act out of earthly desire, fear and anger. The Avatar, however, acts out of His own blissfully divine nature performing exhuberant pastimes for the pleasure of His pure devotees. God is one, yet He manifests Himself in innumerable forms within this world. There is the Darling Krishna Avatar whose beauty enchants the hearts of all; and the awesome Narasimha (the Man- Lion Avatar) who outwitted an ingenious demonic tyrant; and the regal form of Lord Rama Avatar whose example of truth and virtue is emulated even today. Each and every one of those forms has a particular mission; each Avatar being a unique revelation of the Absolute Truth. Although the Avatars appear in different forms at different times, places and circumstances, They are the Selfsame Supreme Lord and Their purpose is one: to reveal the Absolute Truth in this world and remind its inhabitants of their eternal lives of blissful service to God in their original homeland, the spiritual world. This divine purpose is eloquently expressed by Lord Krsna in the world-famous Bhagavad-gita (4.7-8): Whenever there is a decline in religious practice and a predominant rise of irreligion--at that time I descend Myself. To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to establish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium. The ultimate mission of incarnations is to arouse love of God everywhere. In fact, a very systematic analysis of the Avatars based on thse Vedic texts was expounded in the early sixteenth century by the devotional saint Shri Chaitanya, Himself an Avatara. In 1528, He went to Benares, a renowned academic center in India, and met His disciple Sanatana Goswami. During the meeting, He gave an elaborate description of the Avatars. How exactly does God descend? Who is a genuine incarnation? Can anyone become an avatara? How can one experience the avataras? What is the Absolute Truth beyond all Avataras? And from Lord Chaitanya's answers emerges an in-depth look into the most fascinating phenomena of all--the descent of the Avatar. Explore the Philosophy of the Avatars at http://www.Avatara.org Visit the site of the Golden Avatar: Lord Chaitanya at http://chaitanya.avatara.org Enjoy your visit! Gerald Surya Comment on this Story This story URL: http://vaishnava-news-network.org/world/WD9903/WD01-3207.html
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