Immaculate Incarnation
The Immaculate Incarnation
The word "Avataara" means "to come down".
Though any number of words are available to denote the Lord's numerous and periodical visits to the mundane worlds of ours, it is the word Avatara which brings out Emperuman's sterling quality, that of unbounded Accessibility or Soulabhyam.
The Parama Purusha, reigning supreme at Srivaikunttam in the blissful company of its permanent inhabitants, has absolutely no need to forsake His eternal abode and come down to this sorrow-filled land of ours. If He does, it is indicative of His matchless mercy for us mortals.
The Supreme Being, whom even the most accomplished of saints and the most exalted of deities cannot set eyes upon, descends voluntarily to the world below, making Himself visible to the jaded and jaundiced eyes of mere mortals. Not content with this come-down, the Lord also moves as one among us, sharing our happiness and sorrow, partaking in our pleasure and pain, rejoicing with us during celebrations and shedding more tears than us when we are in distress-
"Vyasaneshu manushyaanaam bhrisam bhavati du:khita:
"utsaveshu.piteva paritushyati:"
It is these traits of Emperuman, those of Soulabhyam and Souseelyam, which set Him apart from other deities and make Him the universal object of admiration and adoration.
Apart from the three avowed objectives of the Lord in assuming avataras, as proclaimed in the Gita (viz., protection of the righteous, destruction of the wicked and re-establishment of Dharma), are there other incidental goals which Emperuman has not specified?
After all, there is no need for Him to descend from His eternal abode, for achieving the aforesaid objectives-being the omnipotent being that He is, it is enough for Him to just will them to be so.
For instance, He could have sat in comfort at Srivaikunttam and merely willed that Gajendra be saved from the crocodile and the job would have been done. Sri Ramanuja tells us that while this is indeed so, what the Lord's devotees need is not mere protection from threats, but yearn to see Him in person, to offer paeans of praise to His face and to shower His holy feet with the choicest of flowers-all these can not be achieved without the physical presence of the Lord, which is the principal reason behind His avataras.
Thus, beyond anything else, it is a desire to please the devotee that makes Him come down to our mundane worlds, which makes the ocean of difference between mere "Traanam" (protection) and "Paritraanam"(comprehensive and complete protection), as indicated in the Gita sloka, "Partitraanaaya saadhoonaam..".
However, Sri Koorattazhwan puts an entirely different light on the matter. He says that the Lord descending to the earth for protecting His devotees and pleasing them, to enable them to have their blissful eye-fill of Him and to adore Him in person, is only one aspect of Avataras, and a minor one at that.
The prime purpose, according to Azhwan, is for satisfying the need, not of devotees, but of the Lord Himself. To the puzzled reader, who wonders what possible axe of His own the Lord can have to grind in assuming an avatara, Azhwan reveals the Lord's insatiable need for and delirious delight in seeing, mingling and interacting with His beloved children down below.
More than the devotee yearns for His company, it is Emperuman who pines away for us, longing to be one amongst us, hoping against hope that at least His personal visit would impress us so much that we would forsake the path of perdition that we insist on treading and step instead on to the path to Paradise. This is the prime motivation behind the Lord's periodical descents to the earth, according to Azhwan, which takes the Lord's endearing and enchanting virtue of Soulabhyam to a new pinnacle.
===========================
Excerpt from the email posting of
dasan, sadagopan
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SriRangaSri/
The word "Avataara" means "to come down".
Though any number of words are available to denote the Lord's numerous and periodical visits to the mundane worlds of ours, it is the word Avatara which brings out Emperuman's sterling quality, that of unbounded Accessibility or Soulabhyam.
The Parama Purusha, reigning supreme at Srivaikunttam in the blissful company of its permanent inhabitants, has absolutely no need to forsake His eternal abode and come down to this sorrow-filled land of ours. If He does, it is indicative of His matchless mercy for us mortals.
The Supreme Being, whom even the most accomplished of saints and the most exalted of deities cannot set eyes upon, descends voluntarily to the world below, making Himself visible to the jaded and jaundiced eyes of mere mortals. Not content with this come-down, the Lord also moves as one among us, sharing our happiness and sorrow, partaking in our pleasure and pain, rejoicing with us during celebrations and shedding more tears than us when we are in distress-
"Vyasaneshu manushyaanaam bhrisam bhavati du:khita:
"utsaveshu.piteva paritushyati:"
It is these traits of Emperuman, those of Soulabhyam and Souseelyam, which set Him apart from other deities and make Him the universal object of admiration and adoration.
Apart from the three avowed objectives of the Lord in assuming avataras, as proclaimed in the Gita (viz., protection of the righteous, destruction of the wicked and re-establishment of Dharma), are there other incidental goals which Emperuman has not specified?
After all, there is no need for Him to descend from His eternal abode, for achieving the aforesaid objectives-being the omnipotent being that He is, it is enough for Him to just will them to be so.
For instance, He could have sat in comfort at Srivaikunttam and merely willed that Gajendra be saved from the crocodile and the job would have been done. Sri Ramanuja tells us that while this is indeed so, what the Lord's devotees need is not mere protection from threats, but yearn to see Him in person, to offer paeans of praise to His face and to shower His holy feet with the choicest of flowers-all these can not be achieved without the physical presence of the Lord, which is the principal reason behind His avataras.
Thus, beyond anything else, it is a desire to please the devotee that makes Him come down to our mundane worlds, which makes the ocean of difference between mere "Traanam" (protection) and "Paritraanam"(comprehensive and complete protection), as indicated in the Gita sloka, "Partitraanaaya saadhoonaam..".
However, Sri Koorattazhwan puts an entirely different light on the matter. He says that the Lord descending to the earth for protecting His devotees and pleasing them, to enable them to have their blissful eye-fill of Him and to adore Him in person, is only one aspect of Avataras, and a minor one at that.
The prime purpose, according to Azhwan, is for satisfying the need, not of devotees, but of the Lord Himself. To the puzzled reader, who wonders what possible axe of His own the Lord can have to grind in assuming an avatara, Azhwan reveals the Lord's insatiable need for and delirious delight in seeing, mingling and interacting with His beloved children down below.
More than the devotee yearns for His company, it is Emperuman who pines away for us, longing to be one amongst us, hoping against hope that at least His personal visit would impress us so much that we would forsake the path of perdition that we insist on treading and step instead on to the path to Paradise. This is the prime motivation behind the Lord's periodical descents to the earth, according to Azhwan, which takes the Lord's endearing and enchanting virtue of Soulabhyam to a new pinnacle.
===========================
Excerpt from the email posting of
dasan, sadagopan
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SriRangaSri/
posted by ஜயராமன் at 11:15 PM
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