Sanatan dharm and Avtaar-Waad [Re-incarnation of God]

Sanatan dharm and Avtaar-Waad [Re-incarnation of God]

By: Khurshid Imam

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A. Concept of Avtaar-wad

Avtaar-Wad or the Concept of reincarnation of God is fundamental belief of Hinduism [except aryasamaj]. According to this belief; God comes down to earth and takes form of human being or animal. Now-days, anyone who does good thing is considered re-incarnation of God [Avtaar of God].

1. This concept is not from the very beginning. During Vedic era people did not believe in it. Even idol worship was not practiced during Vedic era. By Vedic era i mean the period during which original ved was in the life of people. I am not aware of any vedic mantr that preaches Avtaar-wad.

Later on, with the adulteration in pure teachings of God, several new concepts came into existence. Avtaar-wad is one among them. Probably; puranas paved way for this concept. People refer to a shlok in Shrimad bhagwad Puran and Bhagwad geeta in support of Avtaar-Wad.

No wonder – Aryasamajis strongly reject the concept of avtaar-wad. They say avtaar-wad is against Vedic teaching.

2. One of the ways of division of Hindus is through Shaiv (Primarily worship Shiva), Vaishnav (Primarily worship Vishnu) and Shakt (Primarily worship Shakti). Earlier, only vaishnav believed in Avtaar-wad. Shaiv and shakt did not believe in this concept. But today almost all sects and groups of Hindus believe in it.

3. How many avtaar (reincarnations of God) were there? Initially 10 avtaar of Vishnu were accepted, later on, this number was increased to 24. Today there is no limit to number of avtaar, everyone who does good is considered as avtaar.

According to hindu tradition; 10 avtaar of Vishnu (god) are:

1. Matasya Avtaar i.e. God reincarnated as Fish
2. Kaschap Avtaar i.e. God reincarnated as Tortoise
3. Varaah Avtaar i.e. God reincarnated as Pig
4. Narsingh Avtaar i.e. God reincarnated as Man-lion
5. Waman Avtaar i.e. God reincarnated as Dwarf
6. Ram. Believed to have come in Treta yug
7. Parshuram
8. Krishna. Believed to have come in Dwapar yug
9. Balraam. Believed to have come in Dwapar yug
10. Kalki Avtaar. The much awaited avatar.

B. AvtaarWad contradicts several mantr of Vedas

1. God is one, unique, master-sustainer of the universe:

“The Only Lord of all created beings. He fixed and holds up this earth and heavens.

Who by His grandeur has became sole ruler of the moving world that breaths and slumbers; He is Lord of men and Lord of cattle.

By Him the heavens are strong and earth is steadfast, by Him light’s realm and sky-vault are supported: by Him the regions in mid-air were measured. What gods besides Him shall we adore with our oblation?" Rigved 10:121:1,3,5

"One who has control over the whole universe, established difference between day and night.” Rigved 10:190:2

“He alone is the master of the whole universe. Every creature bows down before Him. Only He is eligible to be worshipped.” Atharvaved 2:2:1

2. God is free from image, likeness, death, birth etc.

a. Na tasy pratima asti, yasya namah mahadhsha - There is no image of that God, remembering him itself is great act. Yajurved 32:3

b. He can not be grasped in any direction. Yajurved 32:2

c. Those who worship natural things enter into darkness of hell; those who worship man made things enter more into darkness of hell. Yajurved 40:9

d. sah akayam - He is bodiless and pure. Yajurved 40:8

e. Na mamar na jiiryati - He does not die,nor grows old. Atharvved 10:8:32

f. He is beyond the imagination of death. Atharvved 13:4:46

Above vdic-mantr define God in such a way that contradicts with the assumption that God comes down to earth, takes form, lives and dies .

3. Can God be ideal for human being?

It is said that we should emulate Avtaar. Is this possible?

Almighty God is free from any error, any weakness [Refer Yajurved 10:8]. God can not commit mistake or sin. We human being are creature with weakness. We can be biased, we can err, we can commit mistake. How can we try to emulate God?

The logical alternative is that we should try to emulate human being who has very high level of piety, God consciousness and righteousness. Only a human being can be ideal for human being.

C. Avtaar-wad is against common sense and logic

Look at the world around. How big our earth is; huge mountains, large oceans.
What is the status of earth in our galaxy? Almost nothing. Our galaxy has more than 1000000000000 stars!!! Each star is thousands of time greater than Earth!! How many galaxies are in the universe? More than 100000000000!!!!! 
So how many stars are there in the universe? Probably Uncountable?How big our universe is? Infinite? And this gigantic universe is continuously expanding!!!

Who is the creator of this huge universe? It’s Almighty GOD – who is the master, planner and sustainer of this ultra complex universe. 
   
When we say:
The creator of this universe took birth in India.
Almighty God married and had kids.
Almighty God died because of arrow.
Almighty God was searching his spouse.
Almighty God did not recognize his son.
Almighty God lived in uttar pardesh [India].
…………. Then for sure we are demeaning the status of God. We are giving ungodly qualities to God. We are contradicting the definition of God given in scriptures. 

    How can we imagine God taking any form?
    How can God be confined to time and space?
    How can we say that God lived and died in india? 
    How can we think of God being man or animal? 
    Do we need to review and introspect regarding the concept of Avtaar-Wad?


D. yuga and Avtaar-Wad: how much compatible?

As per Hindu tradition - life time/era is divided in 4 yuga or era.

a. Sat yug – era of truth. 4 avtaar came

b. Dwapar yug – more truth, less evil. 3 avtaar came.

c. Treta yug – more evil, less truth. 2 avtaar came.

d. Kal yug – era of evil. 1 avtaar came.

All sects of Hinduism, including, aryasamaji believe in the concept of yug or era. Present era is Kal yug or era of evil. Very soon sat yug or era of truth will come. As per this concept; number of avtaar is 4,3,2,1 in Sat yug, dwapar yug, treat yug and kal yug respectively.

Ponder upon the number of avatar and portion of evil present in the era.

It is said that in sat-yug when everywhere there was peace, truth and happiness then god came down to earth 4 times. Please remember – the purpose of incarnation of God is to fight and destroy evil. When there was peace and happiness in sat-yug then why it was necessary for god to come down – [and fight evil powers]- to earth 4 times? 
It can be argued that sequence is reverse; i.e. since God came down to earth 4 times - so there was peace and prosperity. Fair enough.

However, when it is kal-yug – era of evil, crime, filth – then god is supposed to come down to earth only 1 time?

There is logical inconsistency in the concept of yug and number of avatar in each era. In kal-yug – ideally – there should have been more avtaar because of so much of evil. Even though it is believed that kalyug is about to end yet no avtaar has come yet.

It’s very clear that as evil is increasing number of avtaar is decreasing which is against logic.

E. Shri Ram chandr ji as avtaar

One of the most popular avtaar is Shri Ram chandr ji. His story is mentioned in the epic Ramayan. The Ramayana that you know is very different from the first book of Ramayana written by valmiki ji. For detail, refer to the article – “Difference between original Ramayan and the Ramayan you know”

1. As per the epic of valmiki ramayana; Shri Ram chandr ji was a human being. He had human qualities, some positive, some negative. He himself used to worship God.

2. He took birth, he married, he had children – these all are qualities of human being and not that of God.

3. His wife was abducted by Ravana. It took Shri Ram chandr ji several years to know whereabouts of his wife and rescue her.
“God knows all the domains, all the places and origins”. Yajurved 31:10

“God knows all dimensions and directions”. Rigved 6:9:3

“God knows everything”. Rigved 1:145:1

4. At the end; he died. Can God die?

5. Any honest person; after going through the story of Shri Ram chandr ji will agree that he could have been a great man or noble person.But to say that he was Almighty God - it will be exaggeration. God is one, unique, the master-creator-sustainer of the universe.

F. Shri Krishn ji as avtaar

Another very popular avtaar is Shri Krishna. He forms the central character in Bhagwad Geeta. Bhagwad Geeta is nothing but few chapters from another great epic – Mahabharat. Mahabharat is an epic attributed to Ved vyas ji that speaks about the War. The advice given by Shri Krishna to Arjun in the battlefield is called Bhagwad Geeta.

1. Shri Krishna took birth just like any other human being takes.
2. He grew up old. His naughty activities during childhood and teenage are famous in hindu traditions.
3. At the end; he was killed by an arrow. The wound could not be healed and resulted in death. 

Can God suffer this fate?
“None can ever obstruct or deviate you from your path (Oh God!)”. Rigved 4:54:4
“God is the giver of life’s breath. He is the lord of death”. Rigved 10:121:2

No need to say that God does not take birth. God cannot be hit by arrow. God does not die. So Shri Krishna could have been a great person. To claim that Shri Krishna was God is exaggeration and against definition of God.

G. Substitute of Avtaar-Wad – DutWad [Prophet hood]

What is the solution? God is not confined to time and space. God is not like anything, he is the creator, sustainer and planner of the whole universe. There is need to introspect about the concept of Avtaar-Wad. This concept is not divine. It is not given by God.

The original concept was dutWaad or Prophet Hood. While Avtaar-Wad speaks about God coming down to earth for destruction of evil; concept of prophet hood says that Almighty God reveals his message to human being called messenger or the prophet. The messenger or the prophet then delivers the message of God to people. This concept is pretty well defined in Quran, bible etc. Even Holy Ved talks about prophet hood or dut-waad.

Which concept is more logical – AvatarWad OR Prophet hood?

Ved is considered to be God’s word. So how Vedas came into existence?
Did God himself come to the world and spoke words of ved? No.
Surprisingly; though our Hindu brethren love Shri Ram chandr ji and Shri Krishna ji to great extent, yet they never associate any of them with Vedas. 

No one claims that Vedas were brought by Shri Ram chandr ji or Shri Krishna ji.
Then how come Vedas reached to us? Only option is: through human source.

There can be two ways:
1. God came down to earth, took human form and spoke mantr of Vedas.
OR
2. God inspired Vedic mantr to his chosen person called as Ish-Dut or rasul or Prophet.

To know more about the subject kindly read the book – “Lost prophets Of Hinduism and India”. Prophet Muhammad is the last messenger of God on whom Quran was revealed.

H. Conclusion

1. The concept of Avtaar-Wad is one of the fundamental beliefs of Hinduism. This belief is not divine; it’s not present in Vedas. This was gradually accepted by followers; earlier only vaishnav used to believe in this concept.

2. As per Avtaar-Wad - God takes form of human being in order to destroy evils.

3. This concept is against the Vedic teachings. Ved speaks against AvtaarWad. Morever – it goes against logic and common sense.

4. The correct concept is Prophet Hood. Almighty God does not take human form rather he appoints human being as the messenger for delivering his message. 

5. Prophet Muhammad was the last and final messenger of Almighty God.

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