Introduction 'Why divine incarnation'

 The Concept of Hindu philosophy is very simple and a scientifically proven one.Actually Hinduism is just a way of living.

Science tells us that early life forms on earth were fish or aquatic animals.Then came amphibians such as turtles. They were followed by land animals like boars- they were not quite human; they were evolving into human beings. In Rama and Krishna avathars the evolution into human being becomes complete. The resemblance between the Divine incarnations and evolving life forms on earth is indeed quite striking.

Physics tells us about the theory of conservation of energy. According to this theory, energy is never destroyed; rather one kind of energy becomes transformed into another kind of energy. our philosophy also says that 'Atma' never dies but it becomes enter into another new body
According to Hinduism, fate determines how long and how well a man would live. It also causes pleasure or pain during the lifetime of a person. When the force of his fate is exhausted, his body dies. Divine incarnations were not controlled by the forces of "karma" ( result of past sins or pious deeds ). God , in order to incarnate on earth in human forms creates an earthly body for himself through his inscrutable divine power and enters into it. By his invisible powers he gives others the impression that he was born of human parents. Out of compassion for his creatures who take refuge in him he absorbs their sins into his earthly body and suffers on their behalf and gives them salvation.

Now we will look at the divine Incarnations and reasons there for.

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Matsya Avatharam 1

God's first incarnation was Matsya meaning is Fish.
This goes well with the concepts of evolution when the earliest multi-cell living beings were aquatic.
Once upon a time a demon called Hayagriva with the face of a horse stole all the Vedas and Sasthras from Brahma - the creator and he took all those and hidden them deep in the sea. At that time was huge deluge. When Vishnu learnt about this he took the Matsya avathar - incarnation as a fish which in time grew in size. When the deluge ended Vishnu in the form of a huge fish like a whale killed Hayagriva and retrieved the scriptures and returned them to Brahma.
The end of deluge also marked the end of night for Brahma and the beginning of the day. Millions of years of our reckoning form a day and night for brahma and the Gods.
When the Vedas were returned and with the beginning of the day Brahma resumed his task of creation.
Another reason is given to explain why is God incarnated in forms other than human?. All creatures were created by the same compassionate of God. He descent into the earth should be the same for humans and sub-humans - other wise,  God will become biased and partial - an idea that is not accepted. This why God is shown as having incarnated as aquatic creatures and animals as also humans. Thus it was that Vishnu took the first avathar as 'Matsya' i.e. fish. This is the reason why god is shown as half-fish and half-god in the illustrations of the 'dhasa-avathara'. Also this is proven the science that early life forms on earth were fish or aquatic animals.

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Koorma Avatharam 2

 

God's second incarnation was Koorma (turtle) Avatar. The next in evolution from a fish was the amphibian. To illustrate this, the second avatar (incarnation) of Vishnu was as a koorma (turtle). Incidentally, the turtle also happens to be the most sacred living thing in most of the South Asian cultures. For instance, in the South Asian mythology, it is believed that the world is balanced on the back of a giant turtle. The legend of the Koorma Avatar goes that, many ages ago there was a war between the devas(gods) and the daityas(demons). The gods lost this war. Heady with the victory, the demons harassed and oppressed the gods. Unable to tolerate this, the gods prayed to Vishnu for deliverance. Vishnu told the gods that there is the nectar of immortality at the bottom of the ocean, which can be obtained by churning it. However, the task of the churning the ocean is no simple task. This required the strength of the demons as well. As can be imagined, the demons are not going to be willing to help churn the ocean, in order to make the gods immortal. Vishnu devised a plan to get the demons to help churn the ocean, and at the same time, to deprive them of the nectar! Vishnu assembled both the gods and the demons and proposed that both should churn the ocean and share the nectar. The truce was agreed upon and the two sides got ready to churn the ocean. The mountain Mandara was used as a churning rod and the great snake Vasuki as the rope for churning. The devas grasped Vasuki’s tail and the daityas grasped Vasuki’s head. But as the churning began, the mountain Mandara which had no base, began to sink into the ocean. Lord Vishnu assumed the form of a turtle and balanced the mountain on his back. As the churning continued, Alakala, a terrible poison emerged from the ocean. The gods and the demons were affected by the poison and began to lose their strength. Upon seeing this, Lord Shiva swallowed the poison. Sakti, Siva's consort, stopped the poison at Siva’s throat. Upon which, his throat turned blue. From then on Siva was called Neelakantam (one, whose throat is blue.)The poison was not the only thing to emerge from the ocean. Many wondrous things followed it. Varuni, the goddess of wine (sura), emerged next. The gods readily accepted her and thus they came to be known as suras. But the demons rejected Varuni and were therefore known as asuras. She was followed by the Parijata tree, which came to occupy the pride of place in the garden of Indra, the king of the gods. A jewel named Koustubha emerged and was accepted by Vishnu as his ornament. Three wonderful animals came next - the cow Kamadhenu, the horse Ucchaishravas and the elephant Airavata. Airavata became Indra's mount. They were followed by the apsaras, beautiful women who became the dancers of heaven. The goddess Lakshmi or Sri came out next and was united with Vishnu. Finally, a divine being, Dhanvantari, emerged with a pot of amritam (the nectar of immortality) in his hands.

Dhanvantari, the bearer of the nectar of immortality became the god of healing and was the originator of Ayurveda, the discipline of herbal medicine. The daityas led by Jambha gave half of the amrita to the devas and departed with the other half. Lord Vishnu assumed the form of a beautiful woman, Mohini, the enchantress. The demons were enchanted and begged her to serve them the nectar. She deceived them and served it to the gods instead. The demons were unaware of this, with the exception of one of them. This demon, Rahu took on the form of the moon and succeeded in drinking some of the amrita. The Sun and the Moon noticed this and reported it to Lord Vishnu. 

Vishnu thereupon cut off Rahu’s head with a sword. He was cursed to become a snake. But Rahu had drunk the amrita and so could not die. Now, he was neither a god, nor a demon. He suffered in a lot and he could not live or to die. He prayed to Vishnu and Vishnu granted him a boon that his two parts (the separated head and the tail)  became two shadow planets, as Rahu and Kethu. There is a belief they will be also cause the eclipse of the  celestial gods Sun and the Moon, the two gods who had caused him to be beheaded. Thus the celestial gods obtained the amritam and the demons did not. With the newly attained immortality, the celestial gods defeated the demons, and regained to the heaven. This is proven the science second theory of amphibians, such as turtles.

     

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Varaha Avatharam 3

GOD decided to create a creature that could live on the land alone. The boar lives on land only. This means in the order of evolution land based animals evolved. It is called 
Varaha Avatharam
The mythological story behind this avathar is as follows:
The sage Kashyapa and his wife Diti had a son named Hiranyaksha. became the king of the asuras. Hiranyaksha’s meditation pleased Brahma and Brahma granted him the boon that he would be invincible in battle. Thus armed. Hiranyaksha went out to fight with the devas. He comprehensively defeated the gods and conquered heaven. He also defeated Varuna, the god of the ocean. Thus, Hiranyaksha became the king of the heaven, the earth and the underworld. But the asura was not particularly fond of the earth. He himself had begun to live in Varuna’s palace under the ocean. So he hurled the earth into the depths of the ocean. The gods went to Vishnu and prayed that something might be done about Hiranyaksha. They wished to be restored to heaven and they wished that the earth might be brought back from the depths of the ocean. In response to these prayers, Vishnu adopted the form of a boar and entered the ocean. Who should he meet there but Hiranyaksha himself? Hiranyaksha of course did not know that this boar was none other than Vishnu. He thought that it was an ordinary boar and attacked it. The two fought for many years. But finally, Hiranyaksha was gored to death by the boar’s tusks. The boar raised the earth up once again with its tusks. Vishnu thus saved the gods and the principles of righteousness or dharma. with this science theory of third aspect  land animals like boars
                                            
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Nara-simham fourth incarnation

This incarnation was demi-human- Half human and Half animal(lion). Nara means Human Simham means lion.
There is an interesting story to explain how and why God took this incarnation.
Once sage Doorwasa went to vishnu-lokha to worship Lord Vishnu. But the guards at the gate - Jayan and Vijayan didn't allow the saint inside to see the lord. The sage got very angry and cast a curse that the two should leave the heavens and be born in the earth as rakshasa- cruel and violent human beings and went away.
The two guards were very sad and worried. After thinking for a long time they went inside and saw Lord Vishnu. They told him about the curse cast by the sage Doorvasa. However even Lord Vishnu could not reverse the curse. The guards should not have stopped sage Doorvasa at the gate. Vishnu said You both should not have stoped that sage and I can do nothing about the sage's curse but I can give a new boon that is: you both can come back to me as my enemy after 3 births or you can come back to me as my devotee after 30 births. Take your choice. They said 'O lord we don't want 30 births. Please we want to come back to you soon in 3 births even though the three births would be as your enemies'. Lord Vishnu agreed to this. So in that order their first birth was as Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakasibu brothers. These brothers were very cruel. Hiranyakasibu was the worst of the two.
Once he rolled the earth like a mat and went with it under the sea. God got angry and incarnated as a boar. He dived into the sea killed the devil and raised the world above the sea on his snoot.
After his brothers death Hiranyaksibu became afraid for his life. He wanted long life and power. One day he got the idea to go to the forest and do penance to get more life and also ward off any trouble with any animal or the Gods. So Hiranyaksha went to the forest to do penance. After a severe and devoted penance for a long time God appeared before him. He asked God for immortality. But God said no. He said all men when born have to die some tim e or the other and cannot live for ever. God said "ask something else" Then Hiranyakasibu asked that he should not die either at the hands of any human or killed by any animal - in the day or at night. God gave him the boon asked for and disappeared.

Even though his wife was pregnant Hiranya-kasibu went to the forest to do penance.
In the meantime Indra thought "If Hiranyakasibu gets the boon that he wants then we will all be in deep trouble. Hence I should kidnap his wife and keep her in jail". So when he returned after kidnaping Hiranyakasibu's wife Naradha the sage came and stoped him. Naradha told Indra "you should not do this kind of coward acts. Hiranya-kasibu is definitely going to get the boon and nobody can stop him. leave the lady with me and go to your 'lokha'. Indra left that lady with Sage Naradha and went off. Naradha took that lady to his abode and told her good moral stories.She would listen to him but sleep off. At that time the Sage would start to tell the stories of God Vishnu and also Prayers to God Narayana. The child in the womb of the lady listened to all the stories about Narayana and also the prayers. These got embedded firmly in the mind of the child-to-be born. The child when born was named Prahalada and he grew up as an ardent devotee of Lord narayana.
Hiranya-kasibu had ordered all his subjects and all around him to pray to himself and not to any god.Hence was much annoyed by the devotion of his son to lord Narayana whom to God Narayana whom he considered as his enemy.
Prahalada was ill-treated and tortured to forget god Narayana but could not get him to forget the Lord. Rakshasa Hiranya- kasibu lost all his patience and one day in irritation asked prahalatha "Ok my boy where is that god Narayana ? Can you show me"? "yes" said Prahalada.He is everywhere and anywhere. The Rakshasa asked his son " pointing to a pillar "is he in this pillar ?" "yes he is in this pillar" said the son. Immediately the rakshasa took his huge club and hit the pillar. The pillar broke in to two pieces and from it appeared Narasimha neither a human nor an animal ie (half man and half lion) and took the Rakshasa on his lap and killed him with his claws. Thus came to end the evil called Hiranya-kasibu. God took Narasimha avathar only to kill evilfourse. This was naither a man nor an animal because incomplete  creation of the world..

This was Lord's 4th incarnation to show  that one should have faith in God.

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Vamana was his fifth incarnation

Vamana means a Dwarf
There is an interesting story behind this avatharam.
Emperor Mahaballi ruled over the Pathala-loka. Instead of being confined to his-loka he captured the other lokas and was ruling over them. The Gods and others from other lokas Implored to God to put Mahabali in his place.
Once Mahabali was performing a big "yaga"( offering things in the sacrificial fire) and at the end of the yaga was giving away gold and other things in charity. Whoever went to the palace on that day could ask what ever they wished and the king would certainly oblige them.
God seized this opportunity and came to Mahabali's palace as a dwarf-mendicant. The dwarf asked the King for just 3 foot-measure of land for himself. The king was perplexed and wondering why the dwarf was asking for only a 3 foot-measure of land when he could ask for acres and acres of land.

However the king agreed and asked the dwarf the measure the land with his feet. ho! God assumed gigantic proportions his head reaching up to the sky - the highest world above and his feet down at Pathala-loka the lowest of the worlds below the earth. God took one step and that covered all the worlds above the second step covered all the worlds below and there was no place left for his third foot measure. God asked king " Mahabali , I have taken two steps and have covered all the lokas tell me where to keep my foot for the third foot-measure."

Mahabali realizing that the dwarf was no other than God himself Bowed before the dwarf and said " Please my lord you may keep your foot over my head as the third measure." Accordingly God put his foot on Mahabali's head and pressed hard to push the King to 'Pathala'loka' and told him "O king! this is where you belong and you should confine your self to this loka only." Mahabali realized his folly and ruled long over Pathala-loka.

This is to show the people that they should live in their own places and should not be so greedy to occupy the other lands.
                                          
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Parusurama 6

This picture took from internet

 Parasurama was the fourth son of sage Jamadhagni and Vasugi. The sage was a highly learned person and used to teach vedas and sasthras to a number of disciples. Those days young princes and children of humble parents used to stay together without any distinction with the master.
Parasurama was one of the disciples and was extremely obedient to his father besides being a very diligent student. He learnt all the sasthras taught by his father in earnestness.
Vasugi sage jamadhagni's wife was very devoted to her husband and her children and looked after all the students with kindness and great care. Everday she used to go to the river closed by very early in the morning to bathe. After taking bath she would make an earthern pot and fetch water for the family.
One day as she was making the pot a 'Gandharva' ( celestial beings) passed over-head in the sky. She saw the reflection of the gandharva in the river water and was struck by the handsome features just for a moment. That wavering of the mind was considered being untrue to her husband. As a result that day however much she tried she could not make the pot. It broke every time she shaped it. Vasugi was unnerved by this and was afraid to go home. Sage Jamadhagni sensed this through his mental powers and became incensed that his wife admired the beauty of some one other than her husband. Wanting to punish her he ordered Parasurama to behead his mother. Being an obedient son he immediately carried out his father's order.
However Parasurama was over come with great grief and also felt very angry towards his father. He developed a cruel nature though he remained a sage all his life.

From this though this incarnation is a human being but not complete still he has the animal natures killing so this incarnation shows if any human beings have cruel nature that nature it self will kill him by his own consciousness  
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