In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna’s declaration with regards to the main purposes behind His divine incarnations in this world in a bit more detail. We’ve already witnessed the first two purposes earlier, and now we’ve discussed the third, and the most important purpose in yesterday’s episode – Establishing the “Dharma” in this world and implementing the “Dharma” in person to show to the world as to how things should happen as per the “Dharma” textbook. Bhagawan Rama’s incarnation was a classical example of this, and when Bhagawan Vishnu re-incarnted as Bhagawan Krishna, He drafted the entire “Dharma” into the 700-shloka Bhagawad Gita, which we’re currently experiencing and witnessing. If “Dharma” should be established and documented as a manual for future generations to follow, Bhagawan has no other option but to incarnate, isn’t it? Hence, the main purpose, as discussed above for Bhagawan is to establish and re-establish the “Dharma” constantly in this world.
Moreover, as we move with the next pointer, we should also have a small clarity here. We might have a question within ourself thus – “Oh! If “Dharma” has to be established and re-established, will Bhagawan incarnate only towards the end of a Yuga? Why should He wait till the end? Why can’t He incarnate time and again to do this? Of course, in the earlier shlokas, Bhagawan has mentioned that whenever “Dharma” has a downfall, Bhagawan will incarnate then and there to repair it. However, in the last shloka of discussion, Bhagawan is telling “Sambhavaami Yuge Yuge”! Aren’t these two points contradicting with each other? On one hand, Bhagawan says that He would keep incarnating whenever there’s a downfall of “Dharma” and on the other hand, He is saying that He would incarnate only towards the end of the Yuga! Meanwhile, we also know that Bhagawan is yet to incarnate in this Kali Yuga as well, and we’ve crossed more than 5100 years in it! So what can be a justification for this?”
This is a very important question that we shall try to address here today. First of all, we should understand that Bhagawan’s incarnations are NOT just limited to the ten incarnations that we know of, namely, Matsya, Kurma, Varaaha, Narasimha, Vaamana, Parasurama, Rama, Krishna, Balarama and Kalki. These ten incarnations are documented extensively in our scriptural texts such as the Vedas, Upanishads, Ithihasas and Puraanas, and hence, we often talk about these. However, there are other incarnations which are less known. For instance, the author of this entire Mahabharata text, Sage Veda-Vyaasa is Himself considered to be an incarnation of Bhagawan Vishnu. This become evident from the shloka phrase – “Vyaasaaya vishnurupaaya vyaasa rupaaya vishnave!” We’ve seen this earlier as well. Hence, Sage Vyaasa is himself an incarnation of Bhagawan Vishnu. If not Bhagawan Vishnu Himself, who else in this world can write and document all whatever happened during His own Krishna-Avatara? Only Bhagawan Himself can explain His significance and actions clearly, isn’t it? How can you and me explain Him the way it has to be explained? It’s impossible, isn’t it? We may try and do so with our own ways and means, but will it actually satisfy the standards and requirements which Bhagawan has set?
Subsequent to Sage Vyaasa, we have Sage Kapilachaarya, who is also considered an incarnation of Bhagawan Vishnu. We’ve witnessed a detailed accord on Sage Kapilachaarya in the Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana as to how he was instrumental in granting the highest “Moksha” to his own mother. Similarly, we even have Sage Valmiki, who authored the Ramayana text. In similar lines, we have several incarnations of Bhagawan Vishnu across Yugas, apart from these ten incarnations. Moreover, even in this Kali Yuga, we see a number of “Mahatmas” incarnating in this world, aren’t we? For instance, “Mahatmas” like Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi, Kanchi Chandrashekara (Kanchi Maha Periyava), Shirdi Sai Baba, etc. have incarnated during our contemporary time period only and all these “Mahatmas” are divine incarnations and manifestations of Bhagawan in different ways and forms.
Hence, it is evident from this discussion that both the points mentioned by Bhagawan are true – Firstly, Bhagawan incarnates whenever “Dharma” has a downfall. It doesn’t matter which Yuga and how many times Bhagawan incarnates in each Yuga. This is where we see all these above-mentioned incarnations of Bhagawan Vishnu. Moreover, the incarnation towards the end of every Yuga also happens, as we see Bhagawan Rama, Bhagawan Krishna and Bhagawan Kalki being extensively described in our scriptural texts. Hence, we should understand this point with complete clarity and with this, we shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 