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Dasavatharam
Dasavatharam
1 Matsya
2 Koorma
3 Varaha
4 Narasimha
5 Vamana
6 Parasurama
7 Rama
8 Balarama
9 Krishna
10 Kalki (Avathar yet to come)
Matsya avathar
The end of deluge also marked the end of night for Brahma and
the beginning of the day. Millions of years of our reckoning form a
day and night for brahma and the Gods.
When the Vedas were returned and with the beginning of the day
Brahma resumed his task of creation.
Another reason given to explain why God incarnated in forms other
than human. All creatures were created by the same compassionate
God. His descent into the earth should be the same for humans
and sub-humans - other wise God becomes biased and parttial - an
idea that is not accepted. This why God is shown as having
incarnated as aquatic creatures and animals as also humans. Thus it
was that Vishnu took the first avathar as 'Matsya' ie fish. This is
the reason why god is shown as half-fish and half-god in the
illustrations of the 'dhasa-avathara'.
Koorma avathar
Many years ago there was a war between the devas (gods) and the
daityas (demons) and the gods lost this war. They prayed to Vishnu
to rescue them from the oppression of the demons. Vishnu told
Brahma and the other gods that they should have a temporary truce
with the demons. The two sides should get together to churn the
ocean.
Vishnu would ensure that the devas benefited more from this
churning of the ocean than the daityas did. The truce was agreed
upon and the two sides got ready to churn the ocean. The mountain
Mandara was used as a churning rod and great sake Vasuki as the
rope for churning. The devas grasped Vasuki’s tail and the daityas
grasped Vasuki’s head. But as the churning began, the mountain
Mandara which had no base, started to get immersed in the ocean.
What was to be done? Lord Vishnu came to the rescue. He adopted
the form of a turtle and the peak was balanced on the turtle’s back.
As the churning continued, terrible poison named kalkuta emerged
from the depths of the ocean and was swallowed by Shiva. Shiva’s
throat became blue from this poison and he is therefore known as
Nilakantha, blue of throat. The goddess Varuni, the goddess of wine
(sura), came out next. The gods readily accepted her and thus they
came to be known as suras. But the demons rejected Varuni and
were therefore known as asuras. She was followed by the Parijata
tree, a beautiful tree that came to occupy the pride of place in
Indra’s garden. A jewel named koustubha emerged and was accepted
by Vishnu as his adornment. Three wonderful animals came out next
- the cow Kapila, the horse Ucchaishrava and the elephant Airavata.
They were followed by the apsaras, beautiful women who became the
dancers of heaven. They were known as apsaras because they
emerged from ap (water). The goddess Lakshmi or Shri came out
next and was united with Vishnu.
However the king agred and asked the dwarf the measure the land
with his feet. ho! God assumed gigantic proportions his head
reaching up to the sky - the highest world above and his feet
down at Pathala-loka the lowest of the worlds below the earth.
God took one step and that covered all the worlds above the
second step covered all the worlds below and there was no place
left for his third foot measure. God asked king " Mahabali , I
have taken two steps and have covered all the lokas tell me where
to keep my foot for the third foot-measure."
Mahabali realising that the dwarf was no other than God himself
Bowed before the dwarf and said " Please my lord you may keep
your foot over my head as the third measure." Accordingly God put
his foot on Mahabali's head and pressed hard to push the King to
'Pathala'loka' and told him "O king! this is where you belong and
you should confine your self to this loka only." Mahabali realised
his folly and ruled long over Pathala-loka.
This is to show the people that they should live in their own places
and should not be so greedy to occupy the other lands.
Parasurama
Vasugi sage jamadhagni's wife was very devoted to her husband and
her children and looked after all the students with kindness and
great care. Everday she used to go to the river closed by very
early in the morning to bathe. After taking bath she would make an
earthern pot and fetch water for the family.
One day as she was making the pot a 'gandharva' ( celestial beings)
passed over-head in the sky. She saw the reflection of the
gandharva in the river water and was struck by the handsome
features just for a moment. That wavering of the mind was
considered being untrue to her husband. As a result that day
however much she tried she could not make the pot. It broke every
time she shaped it. Vasugi was unnerved by this and was afraid to
go home. Sage Jamadhagni sensed this through his mental powers
and became incensed that his wife admired the beauty of some one
other than her husband. Wanting to punish her he ordered
Parasurama to behead his mother. Being an obedient son he
immediately carried out his father's order.
However Parasurama was overcome with great grief and also felt
very angry towards his father. He developed a cruel nature though
he remained a sage all his life.
But the King Dhasartha was always very sad because he had no
children. King Dhasaradha wanted to perform asvamedha yaga in
which a Horse is sacrificed in the alter to beget a progeny and
consulted his religious teachers for their advice. They agreed that
performing asvamedha yaga would bless the king with a heir to his
throne. All arrangements were completed and the cermonies were set
in motion strictly as enjoined by the Shastras.
King Janaka 0f mithila kingdom was a very pious and righteous ruler.
He was long without and issue and prayed to Lord Vishnu for a child.
One day when the king was getting his land ploughed he found a
female child with a strong bow
At the time when Rama with Sage Viswamithra was in forests killing
all the demons the news came that King Janaka was conducting a
'swayam-vara'- ceremony to choose a bride-groom, for sita who was
by then grown up as an young maiden. The condition laid down by King
Janaka was who-ever broke the 'Shiva-dhanush' that was found
along with sita in the field that person would be chosen to marry
Sita.
When it was time king Dasaratha wanted to crown Rama as the king
and retire to the forest to devote his time to penance renouncing all
pleasures of life. Called 'vana-prastha-asram this is considered the
last stage in a man's life.
Long time earlier Kaikeyi saved the life of King dasaratha when his
chariot over turned. Pleased King Dasaratha Promised kaikeyi two
favours she would ask for. She however did not ask for anything at
that time but said that she would make her wish known at the
appropriate time later.
Now she invoked the promise that King dasaratha had made and
asked that Bharatha be crowned the King instead of Rama. Her
second wish was that Rama should be banished to the forest and live
there for 14 years as an ascetic before returning to the kingdom.
King dasaratha was distressed in the extreme as he had a soft
corner for Rama as his eldest son. But he was cornered.
When Rama heard about his step mother's wishes he voluntarily
steped down in favour of Bharatha and also agreed to go to the
forest for 14 years.King dasaratha was saved the unhappy task of
telling Rama to do these. But he was very sad at the thought of
Rama going to the forest and died broken hearted.
Rama was not shown the remains of his father but was hustled into
going to the forest. Lakshmana his brother and sita his wife insisted
on going with him and reluctantly Rama agreed. So the trio set forth
on their 'vana-vasam' (residence in the forest).
Bharatha the son of kaikeyi was however not happy to reign over the
kingdom as his mother wanted him to but went into the forest in
search of Rama to persuade him to return to ayodhya take the
crown.When Bharata did meet his brother Rama would not agree to
return to the kingdom but insisted that his step-mother's wishes
should be fulfilled. So Bharata took the pair of Rama's wooden
slippers with him to Ayodhya, kept those on the throne and ruled as
the Vice-roy of Rama.
Rama set up an 'ashram' in the forest and settled down there with
his brother and wife.One day Rama went for a hunt and left
Lakshmana behind as a guard for Sita.
The present day Srilanka was then ruled by the ten-headed demon
king Ravana. He was an ardent devotee of lord Shiva and had the
distinction of having sung the whole of 'Rig veda' in songs. He
attained great prowess doing penance to Lord shiva became power-
drunk and mis-ruled over his kingdom leading a life of laxity.
So he took the form of a deer and went near the ashram. Sita was
so struck by the beauty of the animal and wanted to keep it in the
ashram. She asked Rama to bring the deer to her. Rama went after
the animal which was running fast taking Rama away from the
ashram. At one point the deer gave out a cry "hey Lakshmana"
mimicrying the voice of Rama.
Sita was panic stricken and thought Rama was in deep trouble and
asked Lakshmana to immediately go and see what was wrong.
Lakshmana protested that his job was to guard Sita and nothing
would have happened to valorous Rama. On Sita's insistence
Lakshmana left the ashram to look for Rama. All the while Ravana
was watching and when Lakshmana was out of sight pounced upon Sita
and carried her away in his sky-chariot to Lanka as his kingdom was
called.
Rama sent Hanuman to search for sita in the south-ward region and
scourging around Hanuman found sita in the asoka-vana in Lanka
disconsolate and sorrounded by evil-ladies. Hanuman met sita and
took from her a ring to show to rama that he had indeed found sita
and returned to Rama who was over-joyed that his sita was still
alive. Rama set forth with the army of monkeys to rescue sita.
Knowing the prowess of Ravana Rama prayed to lord for strength to
fight Ravana and his hordes. Shiva granted him the boon. Armed with
this Rama invaded Lanka. After an epic battle he vanquished Ravana
and his army and rescued Sita.
Balarama was born to Vasudeva and his first wife Rohini. Thus he
becomes the elder brother of Lord Krishna.
God Sri Krishna says he liberates mankind from their sins when they
completely surrender to him and helps them attain perfection. He
also says in Gita "abandoning all rites and duties take refuge in me
alone. Do not grieve for I shall librate you from all sins.
Kamsa the king of Madhurapuri was a cruel ruler.He
imprisoned his father and took over the reign.
Aside to the story of Krishna avathar: In the mean time Sri vishnu
ordered Aadhi-sesha his five-hooded snake to go into Devaki's
womb to be the seveth child. But He said this child would in time be
transfered to the womb of Rohini the first wife of Vasudeva and
would be born as Balarama - another avathar of the
God.
God again ordained that Yokamaya Shakthi would be born
as a girl child to Yasoda a lady in the yadava clan in
Gokulam at the same time when Sri vishnu would be born
as Lord Krishna to Devaki. When Devaki gave birth to
Lord Krishna God ordered Vasudeva to take the baby to
Gokulam leave it with Yasoda and bring the female child born to
Yasoda to the prison to be with Devaki.
By Gods will the jail gates unlocked by themselves, the guards fell
asleep to facilitate Vasudeva to take the child to Gakulam as
divinely ordained. Further the river Yamuna which was in spate
parted to open a path for vasudeva to pass with the child on his
head. It was raining also. By Gods instruction a five-hooded snake
opened its hood like an umbralla over the child to protect it from
the rain. He reached to gokulam and exchanged the children and he
came back to the jail with Yogamaya born as a female child. The
doors closed and locked itself automatically. All the gaurds woke up
from deep slumber.
As soon as he left the child with devaki Immediatly the child began
to cry. The guards immediately informed to Kamsa that a child was
born to Devaki. Kamsa immediately went to the jail and was
surprised and confused to find that the eighth child was a baby girl.
However he snached the baby and dashed it head against the jail
wall. The baby rose up and appeared as Devi Yokamaya and said "Ho
merciless king why are you trying to kill me ? The one to kill you is
already born and is growing up somewere. You cannot escape from
death." saying this Yogamaya disappeared.Kamsa was stunned and
went to his palace a worried person. He felt very restless.
Kamsa heard about this and sent his men to Gokulam to find out how
many children were born with Rohini as their zodiac star. They went
to Gokulam and found that 25 such children were born and informed
Kamsa accordingly.They also told him that grand celebrations were
going on in one Nandan's house
Kalki bhagavan
(Avathar yet to come)
(meaning)
Whenever evil over-takes the good and the world is sinking with
sins at that time I will come to annihilate the evil and establish
righteousness.
quote by
Lord Sri Krishna from Bhagavat Geeta