In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna making a big declaration to the world about the sole purpose of His divine incarnations. He talks about a three-point agenda – Firstly, to protect “Saadhus” (Those who follow the path of “Dharma”), secondly to destroy “Vinaasha” (Those who follow the path of “Adharma”) and thirdly, to re-establish the “Dharma” norms in this world. For this, Bhagawan keeps incarnating time and again, across all the Yugas. This is the literal meaning of the shloka which we’ve witnessed in the earlier episode. Now, we’ve witnessed a detailed description of the first two agendas of Bhagawan, and we’re now left with the third one to be discussed. Let us witness this in today’s episode as we move on further from here.
Now, as we know that Bhagawan protects the “Saadhus” and destroys the “Raakshasas”, we might have a question in our mind – Should Bhagawan come all the way from Vaikunta to do these two? Can’t He sit there in Vaikunta and execute both these agenda points? Of course, Bhagawan Rama could have destroyed Ravana even while sitting at Vaikunta or at Ayodhya. Bhagawan Krishna could have killed the entire Duryodhana gang, Kamsa, and the others within just a moment! Bhagawan Narasimha could have saved Prahlaada from Hiranya Kashibu within just a second and He did not need to wait till Prahlaada pointed out at the pillar, isn’t it? So why didn’t Bhagawan Rama or Bhagwan Krishna or Bhagawan Narasimha do that? Why did Bhagawan wait and give a long rope to all these people who were “Adharmic” in nature?
The answer is very simple and it can be viewed in two ways – Firstly, Bhagawan’s sole motive is not to destroy everyone at a go. He wants to give a chance even for Raakshasas to mend their ways and attain “Moksha”. This shows Bhagawan’s infinite compassion, isn’t it? A classic example of a Raakshasa who used this opportunity to attain “Moksha” is Vibhishana. Even though Vibeeshana was a Raakshasa by birth, born as a brother of Ravana, he was inclined greatly towards “Dharma”. When the opportunity presented itself, Vibhishana grabbed it with both hands and surrendered to Bhagawan Rama’s divine lotus feet, didn’t he? Even though the other Vaanaras like Sugreeva and Angadha opposed it initially, Bhagawan Rama was steadfast in His stance to accept Vibhishana and He eventually did it too, didn’t He? We’ve seen this in detail in our earlier Shrimad Ramayana project as well, under the section of “Vibhishana Sharanagathi”. We’ve seen Bhagawan Rama forgiving Vaali for all the wrong things that he had done. Hence, Bhagawan is ever-compassionate and He would only enable all of us to attain the highest “Moksha”, provided, we take atleast a baby step towards Him. Hence for such things to happen, Bhagawan has to incarnate in person, doesn’t He? He cannot give opportunities for people to mend their ways by sitting somewhere at Vaikunta! So this is one way of looking at it.
Secondly, when we talk of the implementation of “Dharma” and practising it, can Bhagawan just sit comfortably after destroying the Raakshasas? If this happens, how will further generations of people know what is “Dharma” and what is “Adharma”? If there’s ambiguity, we always start assuming things, don’t we? Most of the time, our assumptions would be wrong! Hence, to clear the air on what is “Dharma” and what is “Adharma”, someone should illustrate it in practical terms so that people will have a role model to follow, isn’t it? This is why, Bhagawan Himself adorns the role of a model to illustrate the “Dharma”. In other words, Bhagawan takes the responsibility upon Himself to show the path of “Dharma” to the world and through His actions, Bhagawan reminds us that this is how we deal with various situations in life along the path of “Dharma”. So for this, Bhagawan cannot sit at Vaikunta and execute it, isn’t it? He has to incarnate as a normal human being like all of us and then show us the path. Only then people like us would believe! 🙂 It is for this reason, Bhagawan Vishnu incarnated as Bhagawan Rama to execute all the possible aspects of “Dharma” that we need to follow in this world. After this, someone has to provide suitable instructions and guidelines to people in the form of a manual, isn’t it? For instance, if we buy a product, the company would give us a user manual along with it, isn’t it? This manual will contain the procedure on how to use the product. Similarly, Bhagawan Vishnu incarnated as Bhagawan Krishna to provide the “user manual” for “Dharma” in the form of this holy Bhagawad Gita!
So for today, let us understand this point of establishing “Dharma” in this world and how Bhagawan does it across every Yuga. We shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 