| vaishaakh maas starts today bringing
a lot of vedik celebrations. These celebrations remind us of
brhmah, our creator. brhmah has infinite manifestations in
the form of these universes we know and do not know. We have been given various
naam (name) and ruup (form) to brhmah's manifestations in the form of
creation we see and do not see.
All the entities in creation from brahmaa-dev to
an atom is the manifestation of brhmah. brhmah is unmanifested. brhmah
through his shaktio (powers) of omniscience, omnipotence and
omnipresence pervades, animates, sustains all that is created. brhmah also
gives laya (dissolution back into the creator) to all created. laya
is the repeated cycles of birth and death or pralay at the end of 4.32
billion year creation cylce when everything is dissolves back into brahmaa-dev
or mahaa-pralay at the end of 3.11 trillion year creation
cycle when everything including brahmaa-dev is dissolved back into brhmah.....
The sustenance of all created is based on
dharma. dharma is the operating system which makes all
creations co-exist in harmony. dharma operates conforming to the cosmic
and universal laws called ritt and is guided by satya
(truth). dharma is like Microsoft operating system. No computer can
operate without an operating system; so is dharma's role in creation.
brhmah safeguards dharma continuously and eternally. This
safeguarding sometimes needs for brhmah to manifest directly in the form
of a creation....such manifestation is called an avtaar. brhmah
takes an avataar through visnu-dev whose function is to safeguard dharma
when it is threatened to destruction....which could mean destruction of the
universe....
Prajaapati Vishva Aashram Foundation (PVAF) is
proud today to start a series on dharma and vishnu-dev's avataar
to safeguard and uphold dharma... dharma one of the vital ingredients
of shrddhaa (faith) among vedik peoples....shraddhaa
in bhagvaan or brhmah or ishvar or par-maat-maa or
prabhu.....that without shrddhaa in bhagvaan it is futile to
live....or one lives in futility.....
Please continue reading in the main story......Part 1 of
13.
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In shreemad bhagvad giitaa shree krishna-bhagvaan says to arjun in
slok 4.7 and 4.8:
“ Oh bhaarat (arjun)! Whenever dharma declines and adharma predominates then, I manifest
Myself for the protection of good and for the destruction of the wicked and for the firm re-establishment of
dharma. I am born in yug after yug.”
According to above, brhmah, who is normally unmanifest, manifest itself on this earth as an
avataar (incarnation) of vishnu-dev. brhmah takes an avataar when
adharmik activities by creations including humans reach a point where it is about to destroy
dharma and harm or destroy the creation in turn. brhmah knows
when to take an avataar as brhmah is omnipresent, omniscient and
omnipotent. However, usually so many in creation, including devo and devio,
request brhmah's help through vishnu-dev.
In the present cycle of creation there has been nine principal avataar of
vishnu-dev. The tenth principal avataar of vishnu-dev is forecast towards the end of the present kali-yug.
There are several other secondary avataar of brhmah
- some of which are:
-
four sanant kumar who are mind born sons of brahmaa-dev,
-
naarad-muni who is mind born son of brahmaa-dev,
-
nar and naaraayan as muni and
born as a brhmah's blessing to rishi markandey,
-
kapilaa-muni as a philosopher of gnan (knowledge) and bhakti,
-
dattaatrey-muni as the son of one of the
first created sapta-rushi aatri,
-
yagna who replaced indra-dev for a time period,
-
rsabha-dev raajaa who was a teacher who demonstrated and defined the meaning of
bhakti and tapas to humans who are in gruhastha a ashram.
gruhastha aashram is one of the 4 periods in a human's life from the time one finishes studies
and gets married to the time one finishes raising children -about 50 years
old. The other three life aashram are: brahma-chaarya-aashram from
birth to finish of studies; vanaspar-aashram from the end of gruhastha-aashram
when one gives of all the obligations and duties of gruhastha-aashram
to one's sons; and sanyaasi-aashram from the end of vanaspar-aashram
to one dies during which one devotes time to bhakti and tapas
and teaches others about ved and life.
-
prathu raajaa who showed how a king could mix
bhakti and kingship to the benefit of all. prathu
was also the first human and a king to organize a country into villages and towns,
-
dhanvantari who was born out of the churning
of kshir-saagar (celestial ocean of milk) during vishnu's 2nd avataar
as kurma (tortoise). dhanvantari was the proto-physician who gave humans the science of medicine for the first time,
-
mohini-murit, the only female avataar manifested to retrieve
by seduction the amrut (nectar of immortality) from the asuraao during
vishnu's 2nd avataar as kurma,
-
vyaas-muni who split ved into 4 parts for the humans from
shruti and with ganesh-daadaa as his scribe and was the author of purano and
maha-bhaarat,
-
bal-raam who was the brother of shree krishna-bhagvaan
- which was the 8th avataar of vishnu-dev.
The vedik concept of time in terms of yug and its time duration and the characteristics of each
yug is described in details in other articles in VED pages on this website. Of the four
yug, the end of present Kali-yug, which is the last of the yug in this mahaa-yug
(a cycle of four yugo) is some 429,000 years away. The universe is in the 3103rd
year of kali-yug in 2002 AD. kali-yug is the time span according to ved when dharma is
has only one foot out of normal four to stand on and has thus reached its lowest
strength. In the first of the four yug in a mahaa-yug, which is satva-yug dharma has four feet which means
dharma is at its full strength and humans live by dharma only. In the following tetra-yug, dharma stands on three feet meaning,
due to lessening strength of dharma humans are becoming less dharmik than in satya-yug. In the following dvapara-yug, dharma
rests only on two feet, which means humans are living less and less by dharma and more and more by adharma. In kali-yug the humans live mainly by adharma. The definition of living by adharma in kali-yug was predicted in
vishnu puran and the life style of adharma was described as follows:
“kali-yug is the age when society reaches a stage where
property gives rank and position of eminence to humans;
possession of wealth becomes the only means of being sad-gun
(virtuous) and performing sad-karma (virtuous deeds);
kaam (passion in the form of lust) is the only bond of union between husband and
wife;
a-satya (non-truth) the only means of success in life;
kaam (in the form of sex) the only means of enjoyment; and
when outer physicality of life is confused with inner spirituality based
on dharma. "
We can see that the above is just about true everywhere in the materialistic world.
vishnu puran was compiled by vyaas-muni some 4000 years ago.
The 9 avataar of vishnu in the order they were manifested are as follows. The
10th avataar forecast is alos listed:
-
matsya-avataar (fish)
-
kurma-avtaar (tortoise)
-
varah-avataar
(boar)
-
narsinh-avataar (half man and half lion)
-
vaaman-avataar (midget)
-
parashu-raam-avataar
(raam with axe)
-
raam-avataar
-
krishna-avataar
-
buddha-avataar (Prince
siddhartha gautam) and
-
kalki-avtaar (
will be at the end of kali-yug)
The ten avataaro of vishnu-dev are described in detail in shreemad
bhagvatam. shreemad bhagvatam is also called bhagavati puraan.
bhagvat puraan expounds some of the six schools interpreting ved
philosophy such as samkya, yog, vedanata, etc. bhagvat
puraan brings together the concepts of gnan (knowledge) and bhakti
(devotion) to brhmah in order to know one's aatmaa through self-knowledge.
This in turn leads to the knowledge of brhmah and moksh (liberation
from sansaar). bhagvat puraan also contains in the eleventh canto entitled
uddhava giitaa which is the last message of shree krishna given to his friend and attendant
uddhava on the day of his departure from human form in the 9th avataar of
vishnu-dev. uddhava giitaa simplifies a the essence of ved
and dharma preached by shree krishna to arjun in shreemad
bhagvad giitaa.
The genesis, time and the purpose of each of the nine avataaro of vishnu-dev
in this mahaa-yug of 4.32 million years as extracted from shreemad bhagvatam
will be posted in the following days.........may bhagvaan bless us that we will
able to post, read and study these avataaro as part of our ved study on
this web site of Prajaapati Vishva Aashram Foundation (PVAF).....
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