Vishnu is one of the three main gods in Sanatan culture. While Brahma creates and Shiv destroys, Vishnu performs the task of balancing and maintaining. He leaves in Golokdham or Baikunthadham with Lakshmi as his wife. In his abode, Vishnu remains in a meditative state while at the same time, operating the universal balance. Vishnu is known by many names all over India, like Narayan, Hari, Venkateshwara, Perumal, Balaji etc. Actually, he has 108 names based on his activities. The followers of Vishnu are called Vaishnab and they consider Vishnu to be the supreme Parambrahma. Vishnu’s 4 hands hold a conch (Shankha), a lotus flower, a club (Gada) and Sudarshan Chakra. Vishnu’s 4 hands symbolize 4 phases of life- Brahmacharya, Garhastya, Baanprastha, Sanyas. His two ear-rings symbolizes two polarities- true and untrue or happiness and sorrow. The symbol of Srivatsa on his chest signifies his love for goddess Lakshmi. He rests on Seshnaag, which tells that he is controller of hard situations.
Vishnu, as an operator, has taken birth on earth multiple times. There are 10 such incarnations (as per some beliefs 25 incarnations) where lord Vishnu has directly helped the humanity to survive and learn how to sustain. The first incarnation is Matsya (fish) Avatar where he saved life on earth by helping them to survive a great flood. The description of this incident can be found in Matsya Puran where, Manu, a pious king was guided by Matsya Avatar to save living beings from a devastating flood. In the foreign scriptures, we get similar stories of Moses and a huge flood.
The second incarnation is Kurma (tortoise) avatar. This is the time when gods and asuras were having major conflicts. They were told that whoever gets Amrit, will become immortal and powerful. Amrit is a divine elixir that was deep under Kshirod Sagar. Gods and Demons agreed to churn the ocean and later share the elixir. To perform this task of churning an ocean, they needed a huge churner or a bilona. Kurma avatar took Mainak mountain on its back and Vasuki Naag winded them- thus a churner was prepared. Devatas and Asuras grabbed each end of Vasuki Naag and churned the ocean. Gradually many things came out- the Halahal poison, Kaamdhenu, Ucchaishraba horse, Airabat elephant, Kaustav and Padmaraag jewels, many Apsaras, many weapons, Dhanwantari and Lakshmi Devi with a container of Amrit. However, the gods did not want to share Amrit with demons, so Vishnu manifested himself as a beautiful goddess named Mohini. Mohini took the container of Amrit and told gods and demons to sit in two rows, she would start with the gods. Everyone agreed and the gods started to consume Amrit one by one. On the other hand, the demons were pretty awe-struck by Mohini’s beauty and kept waiting for their turn. However, two demons- Rahu and Ketu realized that gods are trying to betray them and by the time Mohini finishes giving Amrit to the gods, nothing would be left for the demons. So, they disguised as gods and sat in the row of the Devatas. Mohini unknowingly gave them Amrit and they started to consume it. However, Surya Dev and Chandra Dev identified their disguise and exposed them. Vishnu then changed back into his real form and within a moment of time, he beheaded Rahu and Ketu with Sudarshan Chakra. Their body fell on ground, because they could not complete consuming the elixir. However, their heads and throats became immortal. They were angry at Surya and Chandra for exposing them and swallowed them. But as they have nothing below their throat, Surya and Chandra came out after some time. In terms of science, we call these Solar and Lunar eclipses that happen a few times in a year. Anyway, thus, Vishnu, as Kurma avatar helped the devatas to become immortal.
The third avatar of Bishnu is Baraha (Boar) Avatar. But before that, I want to tell the story about why Vishnu incarnates and why he destroys demons in each incarnation. Both are caused by a couple of curses. Once, Narad wanted to get married and to impress princesses, he asked for a boon of getting same face as Hari. Vishnu (who is also known as Hari), wanted to teach Narad that it is immoral to commit such act so he gave him a face of Monkey (that is also known as Hari). Narad, unknowingly approached princesses and became a matter of laughter. When Narad came to know about his real condition, Narad cursed Vishnu that he will also experience the feelings of separation from Lakshmi and for that he will be reincarnated multiple times as human.
On the other hand, Vishnu had two gatekeepers outside Baikuntha- Jaya and Vijaya. Once, Brahma’s four sons- the Balyakhilya sages visited Vishnu’s abode to meet him. Though the sages were really wise and old, they had appearances like children. So, Jaya and Vijaya ignored them and humiliated them. Being angry, the sages cursed them to separate from Vishnu and live as humans. Jaya and Vijaya were upset and after sometime, Vishnu appeared in the scene. He came to know about the whole scenario and gave Jaya and Vijaya two options. They could either live 7 lives as Vishnu devotees OR they could live 3 lives as demons and be killed by Vishnu’s incarnations. At the end of completing each option, they would again come back to Baikuntha and live with Vishnu forever. Jaya-Vijaya chose the second option because the thought of staying 7 lives being separated from their master seemed too much for them.
Now, let’s come back to the tales of Varaha Avatar. Vijaya incarnated as demon Hiranyakashya. He started to torture humans on earth and captured Bhudevi (mother Earth) and submerged her under ocean. Varaha Avatar fought with the demon for 1000 years and killed him. Thus, he saved Bhudevi and restored life on earth. In Tirumala (Andhra Pradesh), Varaha Swami temple is famous where this incarnation is celebrated with grandeur. Recently, a famous movie named Kantara, was published in 2022. Here, a ritual related to worshipping Varaha Avatar is shown. The ritual is related to Kolachar (Bhut Kola and Panjurli), the purest form of devotion where the devotee gets into a complete state of Sannibesh with the deity. Needless to say, this is also a tantric way of worshiping the gods.
The fourth avatar of Vishnu is lord Narasingha. This time, Jaya was incarnated as a torturous king Hiranyakashyap. He was actually related to Hiranyakashya like a brother so, after Hiranyakashya’s death, Hiranyakashyap wanted to seek revenge by killing Vaishnavs. His own son, Prahlad was a great Vishnu devotee and this was intolerable for Hiranyakashyap. He tried to kill Prahlad multiple times but Vishnu would perform miracles and save Prahlad every time. Hiranyakashyap got a boon from Brahma that he can’t be killed by anyone created by Brahma including any god or demon or naga, he can’t be killed inside or outside home, he can’t be killed during day or night, he can’t be killed on the ground or in the sky, he can’t be killed with any weapons or hand. After getting this boon, Hiranyakashyap declared himself as supreme lord and demanded everyone to worship only him. Those who did not accept that, would be slaughtered. Nonetheless, Prahlad ignored his father and kept being devoted to Vishnu. Prahlad told his father that Vishnu is omnipresent unlike Hiranyakashyap, thus Vishnu is supreme god. Furious Hiranyakashyap indicated towards a stone pillar and mocked Prahlad by saying Vishnu is inside the pillar. Hiranyakashyap hit the pillar to break it down and surprisingly, Lord Narasingha emerged from inside. A shocked Hiranyakashyap tried to escape but failed, Lord Narasingha placed him on thighs and stood on the border of the palace door and while it was dusk, Narasingha ripped apart Hiranyakashyap with his sharp nails. Thus, he killed the supposedly invincible demon with intellect without breaking any of the boons. However, Narasingha Dev’s anger did not stop even after Hiranyakashyap’s death. Shiva incarnated as Sharava Avatar and calmed him down. Afterwards, Prahlad sought blessings from Narasingha Dev and restored peace on earth.
The fifth Avatar of Vishnu is Vaaman/Baaman (dwarf). This was the time when demon king Mahabali was reigning the earth. In spite of being a demon, Mahabali was a pious entity and a devotee of lord Vishnu. He defeated the gods and claimed both heaven and earth. Afterwards, he started to perform Ashwamedh Yagna. The performer of 100 Ashwamedh yagnas can become Lord Indra. Mahabali was performing the last and final one. To restrict Mahabali, Indra approached Lord Vishnu to save his throne. Lord Vishnu disguised himself as a dwarf and a poor Brahmin (Vamana avatar) to visit the kingdom of Mahabali. Mahabali was a dharmic king and never sent away anyone from his palace without giving something. When asked about his wishes, Vamana asked the king to grant him land covered by his three feet. Mahabali agreed to fulfil Vamana’s desire without a second thought. But Vamana started to grow in size and his first foot covered the earth and with the second he covered the sky (heaven). Mahabali understood the true nature of Vishnu. With no place left uncovered, Mahabali requested Vamana to place the third foot on his head, thus, burying himself into Pataal. Vishnu then gave back heaven to Indra and other gods. Pleased Lord Vamana blessed selfless Mahabali to remain at his doorstep. Mahabali was also granted with a boon that he be allowed to visit his people and his kingdom once in a year, which is celebrated as ONAM[AP1] in Kerala.
The sixth incarnation is Parshuraam Avatar. Parshuraam was the son of a brahmin sage named Jamadagni. Once Jamadagni was angry with his wife and ordered his sons to kill her. Everyone except Parshuraam refused to follow that order. After Parshuraam killed his mother, Jamadagni was pleased at his pitri-bhakti. Jamadagni asked Parshuraam to ask for a boon, to which Parshuraam asked him to revive him mother. Pleased Jamadagni granted his wish and brought his wife back to life. Jamadagni had a Kamdhenu, a cow that grants wishes. Once, a kshatriya king named Kartabiryarjun visited Jamadagni’s place. To welcome the king, the sage asked Kamdhenu to give food and other things, which surprised Kartabiryarjun. The king wanted to buy the cow but the sage refused. Being angry, Kartabiryarjun forcefully took the cow from Jamadagni. When Parshuraam came to know about this incident, he went to Kartabiryarjun’s palace and fought with him and killed him to take back Kamdhenu. This enraged the sons of the king and they attacked Jamadagni’s aashram. After stabbing him 21 times, they beheaded the sage and took the head with them. To avenge his father, Parshuraam started his journey, in which he killed the sons of Kartabiryarjun and brought back his father’s sliced head to perform the last rites. Afterwards, Parshuraam pledged to end tyranny of kshatriya kings from earth, and for the next 21 generations of Kshartiyas, he killed the corrupted and torturous kings. He did not take any unethical way to win over the kings and challenged them into dharma-yudh. He only fought against those who accepted the challenge. Parshuraam possessed a lot of knowledge and in his old days, he started living a sage’s life and started giving lessons of weaponry to only brahmins. Bhishma was his disciple and later Karna also requested him to teach weaponry (both are characters from Mahabharat).
The seventh avatar of Vishnu is Lord Raam (approx. 8000-10000 years ago). In a previous chapter, I have already talked about him. A couple things to add to that story is- in this life of Raam, Jaya was born as Raavan and Vijaya was born as Kumbhakarna. Kumbhakarna was Raavan’s brother. He was born with a huge body and an unending hunger and started to eat living beings ruthlessly. To stop him, Brahma cursed him to sleep for 6 months and after every 6 months, he would wake up for 1 day to consume food. Raam killed both of them.
The eighth avatar of Vishnu is Sri Krishna during the time of Mahabharat (approx. 5000 years ago). I have talked a few things about Krishna in one of the previous chapters. Something to add to him is that, this time, Jaya and Vijaya were born as Shishupaal and Dantabakra. Shishupaal was a torturous king and he was cursed that Krishna would kills him, However, Krishna said that he will forgive 100 sins of Shishupaal. After that quota was completed, Krishna slayed Shishupaal’s head with Sudarshan chakra. Dantabakra, who was a cousin of Shishupaal attacked Krishna to avenge Shishupaal’s death and Krishna also killed him. Thus, Jaya and Vijaya’s 3 human lives were completed and they returned back to Golokdhaam to lord Vishnu. During the Kurukshetra war, Krishna told Arjuna about how to be dutiful and happy- these teachings are compiled and known as the Srimad Bhagabad Geeta, the sacred and most important Hindu scripture. Some of the main teachings of the Geeta is to protect Dharma without being afraid, one is entitled towards action but not results, incarnation, not to be attached, transformation of energies from one form into another, wrong thinking is the only problem and right knowledge is the best solution, hesitation is the worst crime etc. After Krishna directed the war of Mahabharat in Kurukshetra, he came back to Dwarka. After sometime, his clan members started to fight with each other and the end of Jadav clan became inevitable (36 years after the Mahabharat war). This happened as per curse of Gandhari, mother of Kouravs.
The death of lord Krishna has a long, interesting background. Krishna had many sons; Shamba is one of them. Once, Shamba was playing with his mates and they saw a group of sages. The boys wanted to prank the sages so, Shamba disguised as a pregnant lady and all the boys took him to the sages and asked them to predict whether this ‘lady’ will give birth to a son or a daughter. But the sages knew the truth and being humiliated, they said that the person will give birth to a big piece of metal. Though the boys were shocked, they mocked and left the place. After a few days, Shamba started to feel pain in stomach and there was a big mace-like lump formed there. Being afraid of the curse, the boys took Shamba to Krishna and narrated the whole story. Krishna knew that things are falling into places as per the curses. Each event was creating a butterfly effect. Anyway, Shamba went under a surgery and after extracting the element from his stomach, which turned out to be a lump of metal, people churned it to dust. However, a long piece of the metal was too hard to be churned. The people then threw the dust and the piece of metal into Jamuna River. After some time, a fish gulped that big piece of metal and eventually a hunter caught the fish and got the metal from inside. He used it to create an arrow. Meanwhile, the Yadavs forgot their pious lifestyle and one day, after having too much drinks, they fought with each other. There were long grasses beside the river, which were rich with the iron dust thrown in the river. The grasses were so sharp and hard, the Yadavs ended up killing each other. Krishna’s sons Satyaki, Pradyumna, Shamba etc were all dead. Meantime, Krishna appeared at that place and in front of him were all his sons and clan members, lying dead. Krishna knew the end is near and he asked one of his chariot drivers to go to Arjun in Hastinapur and ask him to take care of the rest of the people in Dwaraka. Krishna kept searching for his brother Balaraam and found him meditating inside deep forest. Krishna called him but received no reply. After some time, a snake came out of Balaraam’s mouth indicating the completion of Balaraam’s human lifecycle. Krishna started meditating and thinking of how to complete his human life. Without his knowledge, a hunter appeared nearby. This was the same hunter who made that arrow with the broken metal. From far away, he mistook Krishna’s lotus-like feet as a deer’s feet and shot that arrow. And that arrow struck Lord Krishna’s feet. The hunter came to the spot and was shocked, he asked for forgiveness and Krishna smilingly blessed him and this was the end of Krishna’s human life and start of Kali Yug. Dwarka went under water soon after the incident due to a flood.
The ninth avatar of Vishnu is a bit unclear because there are different views whether it is Lord Jagannath or Gautam Buddha. I will tell a few things about both of them.
There was a king named Indradumnya who had a dream where Krishna, in a form of Neel Madhab (blue stone Krishna) asking him to make a temple of Krishna. Indradumnya started his journey to find the resources and reached Orissa in the Indian Ocean beach. Before that, the hunter whose arrow killed Krishna, became full of remorse and chose a path of Vaishnav. While roaming in the forest, he one day found Krishna’s statue in form of Neel Madhab and started to worship it daily. This puja was being done generations after generation in his family and clan. One of the descendants was Vishwabasu and his daughter was Lalita. Latita was married to a brahmin named Vidyapati. Vidyapati, when he saw Neel Madhav’s statie after visiting his in-laws’ place, he was amazed. He stole the stone and flew away. However, Vidyapati could not tolerate the energy of the stone and decided to give it to Indradumnya. Indradumnya had to build a temple for installing Neel Madhav. Once again, he had a dream that at a specific place in the beach, a log will arrive on a certain day. The king arrived that place at that time and to his surprise, a log was lying in ocean at some distance. The king’s men tried hard to bring the log to the shore but they failed to move it even an inch. Then, Vidyapati advised the king to call the hunter tribes (Shabar), who were actually the clan of Vishwabasu. Vishwabasu had been sad since his Neel Madhav stone was stolen; when he heard about Indradumnya’s mission, he quickly came to the beach and touched the log. The log immediately started to float effortlessly and Vishwabasu along with his men brought the log to the shore. Indradumnya was thankful to the Shabar people and appointed them as the official pujaris. However, a new issue arrived, which was to find a carpenter to carve the statue of Neel Madhav from the log. After a lot of searching, the king could not find out any suitable artist for the job. Then, suddenly an old man came to the king and claimed to be the suitable candidate. This old man was none other than Vishwakarma. He asked the king to leave him alone inside the temple for 21 days; no one should enter the place before that. The king agreed, though he was skeptical. However, king’s wife- Gundicha could not suppress her curiosity. She used to come near the temple gate everyday but could not hear any sound from inside. Out of curiosity and tension, she opened the gate after 14 days. To her shock, the old man was no longer there and three half-finished idols were standing there- Krishna, Subhadra and Balaraam. When the king came to know about this, he decided to worship the idols in that form. The idols were installed inside the temple, which we know as the famous Jagannath temple in Puri, Orissa. The worshippers, who are called Dayitapatis, are descendants of the Shabars (Lalita’s side) who also have Brahmin blood (Vidyapati’s side). After each Yug (12 years normally), an event called Naba Kalebar is organised where the idols of the lords are remade. The worshippers still receive dreams about where to find the wood to carve out the idols. There are strict guidelines about the characteristics of the wood. It is usually a Neem tree. Lord Jagannath is dark in color. So, the neem tree from which his deities is to be carved out should be dark; whereas the trees which would be used for the deities of his brother and sister are lighter in color; as his siblings are fair! The Neem tree for Lord Jagannath must have four principal branches – symbolizing four arms of Vishnu. There must be a water body near the tree – like a river or a large pond and a cremation ground nearby. An ant-hill should be close to the tree and at the roots of the tree there must be a snake-pit of a cobra. No bird must have made nests in the tree; and no branches would have broken or cut. The tree has to be located near a three-way or would be surrounded by three mountains. No creepers must have grown on the tree and there have to be Varuna, Sahada and Vilva trees (these three trees are not very common) close by. There have to be a hermitage and a temple of Lord Shiva in the vicinity. The most amazing requirement is, on the tree trunk there must be natural impressions of conch-shell and chakra.
After receiving the tree, it is cut to form log and brought to Koili Vaikuntha temple ground. The carpenters complete building the 3 idols under strict supervision and within a deadline of 14 days. During the whole period, a lot of pujas and sacred rituals are performed by the dayitapatis. At the end of completion of the idols, they are transferred to the garbha-griha of the Puri temple where pran-pratistha happens. This ritual of pran-prathistha is very sacred and done in utmost secrecy. It takes 3 dayitapatis to complete this task and during the time, they all remain blindfolded and alone inside the garbha-griha. As per one dayitapati who had the fortune to be part of this ritual, there is a secret chamber inside the idols. One dayitapati opens the chamber of the old idol and brings out something mysterious, it feels like beating in a constant rhythm and soft like a rabbit. The object is then handed over to the second dayitapati who transfers it to the third dayitapati, who then installs the object inside the new idol. It is said that after Krishna died, his heart was intact even after cremation; and this mysterious object is the heart of Sri Krishna. It is also referred to as the Brahma-Padartha. After this is done, the new idols come to life and the old idols are buried at specific place inside the temple ground. Jagannath’s Rath Yatra (chariot festival) is celebrated hugely in Orissa and also in West Bengal. Though Jagannath is not a human incarnation of Vishnu, there have been many instances or at least there are many stories where people have seen him, felt him and received his blessings. Jai Jagannath!!
The other opinion says that, the 9th Avatar of Vishnu is Gautam Buddha.
His early name was Siddhartha and he was born in 563 BC to queen Maya Devi and king Shuddhodan in Lumbini (Nepal). After his birth, an astrologer predicted that he will leave home to help distressed people and become a holy person. This made the king anxious as he did not want to lose his son. So, Siddhartha was always kept in a happy environment, away from poverty, sadness, problems and death. Shuddhodan did his best to keep him tied to materialism and the sangsaarik maya. At the age of 16, Siddhartha was married to princess Yashodhara and soon was blessed with a son named Rahul. Though Siddhartha was kept away from troubles and sadness of the world, the materialistic happiness was boring for him. Around the age of 25 or 29, one day, he was out in the city, roaming on his chariot. Usually, when he went out, the citizens would have been told beforehand to welcome him with smile and the roads would be decorated. Old, sick persons or corpses would be kept out of his sight as per Shuddhodan’s order. However, on that particular day, Siddhartha roamed a bit far and came across four sights. He saw a sick person suffering, an old man, a dead body waiting to be cremated and a roaming sadhu with no possession. These four sights shook him because he never saw any sickness, sorrow, death or abstinence. The impact of these sights was strong enough to make him think about the purpose of life, why do people suffer and how to overcome or cure these sufferings like sorrow or death. When he discussed about these things with the finest scholars in the country, no one could give him satisfying answer. So, Siddhartha decided to find the answers himself. However, he knew that his family would not support him if he declares his wish to leave the palace and follow a sage’s path. So, at one night, he woke up, looked at his wife and new-born son sleeping beside. He resisted the urge to hug his son, Rahul for one last time and left the palace amidst darkness. He told himself that he will return after finding the answers to his questions. Six years passed by as he kept meeting sages, kept torturing his body by fasting and suffering from pain- as he thought abstinence from happiness is the way to find the truth about life. But, at a point of time, he realised this is not the right way and a balance is needed between abstinence and lust. Eventually he appeared in a village named Senani (near Bihar) and started meditating under a banyan tree. In this village, there lived a lady named Sujata, who took care of him while his stay. Today, Sujata Stupa is a tourist spot that celebrates this historical event. However, Siddhartha again started roaming, in search for the ultimate truth, and reached Gaya. In Gaya, he started to meditate under a banyan tree and pledged to stay in that position until he got the answers to the questions. Through meditation, he realised the circle of life, incarnations and at last, the root of all sufferings. He realised that killing, stealing, committing sexual misconduct, lying and using intoxicants are the roots of al sufferings. He also realised that pain and pleasures are parts of life and cannot be avoided; attachments cause pain. This enlightenment transformed Siddhartha into Tathagata Buddha. Buddha found out that if one can see life as it is, if one possesses emotional intelligence, truthfulness, mindfulness and compassion, if one can live without exploiting and harming others, if one can utilise energy in positive impacts, and if one can meditate with united focus- then suffering can be reduced. Through these understandings, Siddhartha attained enlightenment and became Buddha (it means ‘the one who knows’). The banyan tree under which he attained enlightenment, is called Bodhi Tree and is still present in Bodhgaya (Bihar). Afterwards, Buddha started to render his knowledge to other sages and normal citizens. Buddha returned home after seven long years. For all these years, Yashodhara led a simple life; even though she was astonished at his sudden departure, she supported his wish to attain enlightenment. Buddha knew about all these and he wished to meet her. Yashodhara’s suppressed emotions of sadness and abhimaan rolled down as tears as they met. Buddha made her understand that he left as an ignorant person but came back as a new person. Rahul was 7 years by now and this was the first time he saw his father. Buddha taught his learnings to his family members, relatives and citizens. Many people may say that Buddha did wrong to his family by leaving, but overall, he balanced his family life and goal to contribute to the world. From this viewpoint, he was a great leader for his son, who could be proud of his father. Buddha, as a father, taught his son to follow own passion and be an exception. Rahul became the youngest monk at 7 years age. After that, Buddha lived up to 80 years of age, giving lessons and teachings to thousands and thousands of people. His teachings don’t include traditional rituals of Sanatan as Buddhism does not ask the believers to worship a deity. However, the philosophy of Buddhism is just another school of Sanatan dharma because it focuses entirely on dutiful living. Also, Buddha, himself did not propagate his teachings with the motto of creating a new religion, his followers did that. Buddhism has two paths- Hinayaan and Mahayaan; while the first one strictly focuses on meditation and disciplined living as per Buddha’s path, the latter one welcomes the divinity of Buddha and allows idol (of Buddha) worshipping. As per Buddha, the goal of life is to be free from the fear of death (Mahaparinirvaan). The most fascinating thing about Buddha is that, even if you don’t consider him as a god, he is a pretty perfect human being. Rahul passed away at a young age and Yashodhara passed away before 2 years of Buddha’s Mahaparinirbaan but Buddha did not mourn as he knew about the truth of life. On the last day of Buddha’s life, he was in Kushinagar (Uttar Pradesh). Surrounded by his disciples, Buddha reminded them his lessons for one last time. For the past few days, he did tell them that his time of samadhi has come. His last words were- “vayadhammâ samkhârâ, appamâdena sampâdetha”. It means, nothing is permanent, perform duties mindfully. Is this not the main teaching of the Geeta told by Shri Krishna to Arjun at the Kurukshetra battlefield 2500 years before Buddha!! After this event, a homage was paid to the mortal body of Buddha with flowers, perfumes and music for the next 6 days by the disciples in form[AP2] of respect. On the 7th day, the body was cremated. The remains of the ashes and tooth were divided into 8 equal parts and given to the kings who took the lessons of Buddha. 8 Buddhist Stupas have been constructed over these relics- Rajagaha, Vaishali, Kapilavastu, Allakappa, Ramagama, Vethadipa, Pava, Kushinara and Pipphalivana. Buddhist people says “Buddham Sharanam Gachchhami”, which means ‘I follow Buddha’s path of living’ to attain Nirbaan or true happiness[AP3] .
The tenth avatar of Lord Vishnu is Kalki, who is yet to arrive on earth. Before talking about Kalki, I want to talk a few things about one theory- many people believe that the incarnations of Vishnu indicate the evolution of humans. Fishes were the first Vertibrates that appeared 500 million years ago. Then came the amphibians and gradually the animals. From animals (ape), humans came. At first, humans were short in size. Then they learned to use weapons and used stone, bronze, iron etc items. Gradually they started civilisation and set of rules were imposed to protect family and society. Afterwards, humans started to get corrupt and engage into fight due to increased lust and politics. But gradually, humans realised that war only brings destruction and in today’s era, peace and compassion are the most desired. This explanation of theory is pretty convincing, apart from the fact that in evolutionary history, we don’t have any evidence of half-human and half-animal. However, if we keep modern science aside, we can’t neglect this theory.
Let’s get back to Kalki. Sri Krishna has told that whenever dharma was in danger, he has appeared to save the righteous people and punish the sinners. As per our scriptures, after the death of Krishna (5000 years ago), Kali Yug has started which is a time span of 432000 years. So, about 427000 years are left. Currently, we are living in the golden era of Kali Yug where people are still doing mostly good work, they believe in god and karma. As the time will pass by, the situation will get worse and people will engage into more sins. At the end, when the existence of humanity comes under stake, Kalki will appear to eradicate everything with his sword Nandaka and bring back Satya Yug on earth. As per Nostradamus prophecies, one day a glorious man will arrive on earth w[AP4] ho will rule on land and sea and he will solve all problems on earth.
I believe that the 10 avatars of Vishnu teach us about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. At the starting point, Vishnu focused on helping humans to survive on earth. Matsya Avatar, Kurma Avatar, Varaha Avatar focused on helping us to survive from huge natural disasters and attack from Asuras, which is a physiological need. Then, Narasingha and Parshuraam Avatar focused on giving security and Vaaman Avatar focused on teaching us about resources and properties – these are safety needs. Raam taught us about social and family relationships – emotional needs. Then Krishna focused on teaching us how to maintain self-esteem and how to earn respect and freedom- esteem needs. Lastly, Buddha has focused on self-actualisation. Kali avatar will also help us to attain self-actualisation by the act of purging.
I have kept Vishnu as ‘Temperance’ because he has always balanced. He is the master of problem solving that needs knowledge and patience. He is so patient that, he has earned Lakshmi as wife. Goddess Lakshmi is known as ‘Chanchala’ [impatient] as she does not stay at one place for long. Even she does not want to leave Vishnu, such is his personality and abilities. Jai Shri Krishna, Jai Narayan!!
Upright meaning
In tarot, the Temperance card is often associated with balance, harmony, and moderation. When the card is upright, it generally signifies positive traits such as balance, harmony, and the ability to find a middle ground. The upright Temperance may represent a person who is able to find balance in their life or who is able to moderate their behaviour in order to achieve harmony.
Reverse meaning
On the other hand, when the Temperance card is reversed, it may indicate negative traits such as imbalance, excess, or a lack of self-control. The reversed Temperance may represent a person who is struggling to find balance in their life or who is engaging in excessive behaviors that are causing problems. It could also suggest a need to practice self-control and moderation in order to achieve harmony.
Sources:
Lectures of Dr. Kumar Viswas
Lectures of Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri
The Mahabharat
[AP1]https://www.keralatourism.org/onam/onam-rituals/onam-harvest
https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/festivals/onam-2022-when-is-onam-date-history-significance-celebrations-and-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-harvest-festival-101661757259026.html
[AP2]https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/lifebuddha/contents1.htm
[AP3]There are many Buddha idols available which gives different types of effects. Sleeping Buddha facing west gives peace at home. ‘Bhumisparsha’ Buddha in the east helps humans to receive eternal knowledge. A meditating Buddha in garden can give relaxation. A fat laughing Buddha offers happiness in life. A laughing Buddha playing with children brings fertility and gives the joy of parenthood. A laughing Buddha with a sack brings wealth.
[AP4]https://www.gaia.com/article/did-nostradamus-predict-the-same-event-as-these-hindu-scriptures
Add a Comment