In the previous episode, we had witnessed a very important and pertinent discussion as to why Bhagawan Krishna’s incarnation is spoken about prominently in the Puraanas, more than any other incarnation. In fact, even though we have 24,000-sloka-Valmiki Ramayana in place, Bhagawan Rama’s incarnation too is not widely spoken about in either Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana or Shri Vishnu Puraana in much detail. In these lines, we had put forward a few points to seemingly justify this stance, however, there might be many other reasons as well. Of course, if great Sages in the likes of Sage Paraashara and Sage Sukhaachaarya are threading along a path, there should be a huge philosophy behind it, which common people like us might not understand at one go. We can only guess a few reasons with our limited knowledge and understanding, but there might be many other reasons that are beyond our understanding behind what they’re doing. Hence, for now, let us get on with what Sage Paraashara is going to discuss from here on.
Saying thus, we are now going to witness Bhagawan Krishna’s incarnation, which is often referred to as the ninth incarnation of Bhagawan Vishnu. We’ve already seen a couple of episodes earlier too that there are innumerable “Avataras” (Incarnations) of Bhagawan, out of which, we prominently talk about ten of them. Each “Avatara” has its own purpose and agenda behind it. It is a well-thought out process of Bhagawan, to establish and re-establish “Dharma” in this world. As Bhagawan Krishna Himself explains clearly in the Bhagawad Gita thus,
“Paritraanaaya saadhunaam vinaashaayacha dushkruthaam!
Dharma samsthaabhanaarthaaya sambhavaami yuge yuge!!”
Bhagawan’s main agenda behind any incarnation is to protect the “Saadhus” (Ardent devotees) and to destroy the “Vinaashaa” (Demons and evils that try and establish Adharma in this world). We can ask a question here – Bhagawan can do these two sitting at Vaikunta itself, isn’t it? Why should He take all the pains to come to this world, incarnate, live a life like normal living beings and then destroy the “Raakshasas”? This is where Bhagawan Krishna Himself answers this question in the next line – “Dharma Samsthaabhanaarthaaya”. Thus, the main agenda of Bhagawan incarnating in this world is to establish and re-establish the “Dharma”. This might not be possible to achieve when Bhagawan just sits in the Vaikunta. He has to come down to the earth, take a birth like a normal human being, practice all the “Dharma” principles and set Himself as a role model for others to follow. Only if this is done, people like us who do not have any basic understanding of our “Shaastras” would be able to understand something of our “Dharma”, if not everything.
Of course, all these important principles of “Dharma” are clearly explained in the Vedas and Upanishads. But the problem is that, these principles are explained in a very complex way, and in a complex language called “Sanskrit” which is very difficult for us to read, understand and comprehend. Given this complexity, many of these principles go unread and virtually unheard of. Even if some people try to comprehend the Vedas, there might be certain principles of “Dharma” that might be very difficult for us to digest and follow in our regular day-to-day life. Thus, in order to take away these complexities and to make our lives simpler, Bhagawan took it upon Himself to incarnate and “enact” all these principles of “Dharma” in His life, and show us the way of implementation. Thus, we can understand here that the primary reason behind Bhagawan incarnating in this world is to establish and re-establish the “Dharma”.
In order to do this, we might have another question – Isn’t it enough if Bhagawan does this establishment and re-establishment once? Is it a requirement for Him to do it again and again? The problem with we, human beings, is that we tend to forget things very quickly! 🙂 This is not the case today or yesterday, but has been the case for “Yugas” put together! In the “Krita Yuga” when Bhagawan established the “Dharma”, He was also perhaps happy that the world would be a better place to live in. However, that was not the case! In the “Tretha Yuga”, the “Dharma” deteriorated still. This is why Bhagawan decided that things are not going the way He wanted it to go, and there’s no use sitting at Vaikunta in trying to oversee things. He thus decided to incarnate as Bhagawan Rama and re-establish “Dharma”. However, at the end of the “Tretha Yuga” and in the course of the next “Dwaapara Yuga”, the Dharma started deteriorating even further! Bhagawan couldn’t tolerate the extent to which the “Adharma” was rising all the way to a peak, and hence He decides that He’s going to incarnate once more as Bhagawan Krishna to set things right!
Thus, we can see here that establishing “Dharma” once and for all doesn’t work with people like us. We need constant reinforcement and constant pushing from our back to follow “Dharma” properly. This is why Bhagawan Krishna Himself explains at the end of the above sloka, “Sambhavaami Yuge yuge”. This means that Bhagawan keeps incarnating every Yuga, to set things right. This is not only true for Bhagawan Krishna’s incarnation, but it holds good for all incarnations of Bhagawan. Thus, we realize that Bhagawan’s main agenda for incarnating time and again in this world is to re-establish the “Dharma” and here in this context, we’re going to witness the all-important “Krishna-Avatara” of Bhagawan Vishnu. Why did Bhagawan Krishna incarnate? Why was He born as a son of Devaki and Vasudeva? Why was He transported from Mathura city to Gokula? What did Bhagawan do there? We’ve got all these questions in mind, isn’t it? Let us wait till the next episode eagerly to start off with the answers for each of these questions! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 