In the previous episode, we had witnessed a very important question that Arjuna was asking, and perhaps this is the entire crux of our discussion on Bhagawan Krishna’s significance of His divine incarnation. Arjuna asks Bhagawan the reason behind His incarnation time and again in this world, given the fact that Bhagawan’s incarnations do not have anything to do with “Karma” and “Karma-Phalam”. In our cases, we are completely bound by the “Karma” cycle wherein if our “Punya Karma” dominates, we get a luxurious birth with all facilities and if our “Paapa Karma” dominates, we will get a life full of challenges to navigate through. Moreover, in our cases, the sole purpose of our births in this world is to wash away both our “Punya Karma” as well as our “Paapa Karma” completely, thus paving the way to attain “Moksha”. We should always remember one thing clearly – “Moksha” is possible only if we clear both our above-mentioned accounts. If we think that we can go to “Moksha” with our “Punya Karma” alone, we are grossly mistaken! If our “Paapa Karma” is nullified somehow and if only our “Punya Karma” exists, we will again take birth here or in the “Deva Lokha” to experience all the pleasures and luxuries, and once again we would start accumulating our “Paapa Karma”, which would again lead us back into the birth-death cycle! We’ve to be very careful in our understanding here.
Thus, coming back to this point of discussion, as Arjuna asks this question, Bhagawan replies back with the famous shloka thus:
“Paritraanaaya saadhunam vinaashaayacha dushkritaam!
Dharma samsthaabhanaarthaaya sambhavaami yuge yuge!!”
So now, the declaration of Bhagawan Krishna is crystal clear without any doubt. Even during the “Yadaa yadaa hi dharmasya” shloka, Bhagawan had given a kind of cryptic reply, but here, He’s extremely clear in what He’s trying to convey. Bhagawan Krishna says thus, “Oh Arjuna! My incarnation in this world has three important purposes – Firstly, to protect “Saadhus”. Secondly to destroy “Raakshasas”. Thirdly, to re-establish “Dharma” in this world! For this, I shall keep incarnating again and again across various Yugas!” This is the literal meaning of the shloka, and now we shall introspect this a bit deeper. Firstly, Bhagawan says that He incarnates to protect the “Saadhus”. Now, who are those “Saadhus” and who come under this category? “Saadhus” are those people who meticulously put efforts to follow the path of “Dharma”. It need not be only Maharishis and Sages. It can even be normal people like us. All that Bhagawan wants from us is the effort that we take to reach Him. Hence, if we’re doing this with our full effort and devotion and if we’re trying to follow whatever Bhagawan has mentioned in this Gita, all of us can come under this category of “Saadhus”.
Secondly, Bhagawan talks about destroying the “Raakshasaas” (“Vinaashaayacha dushkritaam”). Now who are these “Raakshasas”? In this context, it doesn’t simply mean that a “Raakshasa” should be someone who is like a Ravana or a Kumbakarna or a Kamsa or a Jaraasandha with a ghastly form and with a fiery look. Readers might remember this earlier discussion that we’ve had, when the Devas went and requested Bhagawan Vishnu to incarnate as Bhagawan Krishna – Mother Bhoomadevi (Mother Earth) goes and cries to Bhagawan Vishnu saying that “Adharma” is getting to its peak and she couldn’t withstand the wrath of it anymore. So whom does Bhoomadevi refer to here? The reference is for normal people like us only. In fact, Duryodhana and the others in the Mahabharata are not “Raakshasas”. They are normal people like us. However, the norm of “Dharma” had completely deteriorated in the world, that paved the way for Duryodhana and Co. to fall into the trap of “Adharma”. Hence, when we say “Raakshasas”, it refers to normal people like us who are deviating from the path of “Dharma”. So, Bhagawan’s second most important purpose of His incarnation is to destroy those people who walk the path of “Adharma” and who disturb the “Saadhus” and prevent them from following the path of “Dharma”.
So for today, let us understand up to this point, and there’s a third most important purpose of Bhagawan’s incarnation, which we will discuss in the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 