Gita Series 51. Bhagavad Gita Chapter IV.7-9:

“Bharata (Arjuna)! Whenever virtues (dharma) decline and immorality (adharma) looms, I embody as an avatar. To sustain the pious, to eliminate the sinners and to protect dharma I incarnate in every yug. Arjuna! My avatar and actions are divine. The one who understands this principle is not born again and reaches me when he dies.” Free will is the gift of God that works through mind making the mind instrumental in performing either virtuous or immoral acts. When such God given freedom is misused frequently by majority of the population, Krishna incarnates in various corporal forms. This concept is known as philosophy of incarnation. When more and more people are involved in virtuous acts, dharma prevails leading to all round prosperity. Improper utilization of free will leads to a situation where immoral acts prevail over virtuous acts casting all round poverty and gloom. The theory of the ‘survival of the fittest’ takes over universal brotherhood. Mindset of spiritually advanced people does not change with times.

They can exist peacefully during the times of universal brotherhood and suffers for survival as they attempt to become physically fit. The pious men eat not to survive, but to exhaust their karmas. Adharma rules when the fittest among all resorts to immoral acts. He has huge following fearing for his might and they are induced to indulge in sinful acts leading to all round melancholy. This situation can be solved my two means. The first is total annihilation of the universe, which happens once in several billions of years. The second possibility is that God incarnates in embodied forms to destroy evil and to restore virtues. In Hindu epics depicts such evils as demons. In every incarnation, demons are destroyed and virtues are restored by such incarnated forms. This is what Krishna says here. By such incarnations, the pious are protected by eliminating the sinners. The divine avatars and actions are beyond human comprehension.

Though many such incarnations are in human forms, there are certain incarnations whose forms are incomprehensible. Narasimha avatar is one such form. Rama and Krishna avatars are in human forms for setting examples for the humanity to follow the virtuous paths. Krishna Himself repeatedly emphasises this in Bhagavad Gita. Avatars though in human forms, their power are infinite. This is what Krishna means by saying ‘divine’. No one can predict the timing of such incarnations. Now a contradiction arises with regard to God. God is described as the one without form and attributes known as the Brahman. But then, how can He incarnate in a form? The answer is in The Holy Bible (Mathew 19:17) “Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God.” God or the Brahman has infinite power to sustain this universe. Every act unfolds according to His will, the Divine Will, juxtaposed to free will which is human. The Divine Will is not unilateral but bound by the ‘Law of Karmas’, the divine law. God never overrides His own laws that are eternal and not amended according to convenience.

The divine incarnations are of two types. In the first type the incarnated form is made visible to a community and in the second one, the incarnated form is made visible only to those who eternally stay connected with Him. This situation is known as Krishna consciousness, where one’s consciousness stays tuned to higher frequencies where two way communes are established. For them the Brahman appears in a visualised form of their choice, remaining invisible to others. There is a lot of difference between manifested and visualised forms of the Brahman. Rama and Krishna avatars are meant not only to annihilate the sinners but also to liberate many of Their devotees. But the visualized form is made known to select few with the exclusive purpose of liberating select souls. That is why the incarnations are said to be beyond human comprehension and expectation. The one who understands this principle of the Divine is liberated, not to be reborn. The divine principle ensures the continuance of the universe in terms of the Divine law. Divine law explicitly says that none should take credit for their actions as these actions are decided by the Divine. Neither the actions nor their fruits belong to the practitioner, but should be surrendered unto Him.