Chapter 5: The similarities and importance of bhakti and
5.1: The place of incarnation and the concept of avatar
Parrinder has listed numerous characteristics of the theological doctrine of the avatar. In this section I shall be using some of his categories in order to show some of the similarities but also differences between the Christian understanding of incarnation and the Hindu concept of the avatar. 46
5.1.1 The avatar assumes real physical form
Within both traditions, God descends into the physical world we know. This is not an illusion or vision, but a real and physical manifestation within our world. Thus with both Krishna and Jesus, their bodily nature was visible, they were able to be held and touched and embraced. They ate, slept, laughed and played. The Bible says the Word became flesh. God becomes human, one with us. However, within Hinduism, avatars are not restricted to incarnating within human form, and the earlier forms of Vishnu appeared in animal form.47 However, it is the form of Rama and Krishna that are popularly most captivating devotionally. (How different is that from God appearing in the form of the dove at the river Jordan, or speaking from the burning bush?) Yet despite descending into this material world with a concrete physical form, God does not become solely human, but retains always the fullness of divinity.
5.1.2 The avatar takes worldly birth
For the human forms of the avatar, birth comes through human parents. It begins with the will of God, the decision of God to incarnate. These births are not through normal human intercourse, but through divine action. This was true of Jesus but also of Krishna is who is said to have come from a hair of
46 Parrinder, 1970 pg 120 – 127
47 For greater detail of this phenomenon see Parrinder 1970; 20
Vishnu’s body. Nevertheless, the divine child is always birthed within a human family.
5.1.3 The avatar is both human and divine
With both Jesus and Krishna we are given images of a child growing, being taught and teaching. They know the human love of a family and friends, they are human in every way that we are, and yet within this humanity they reveal to us the fullness of God. Theirs is an authority in their teaching unlike others, there is the capacity to perform miracles, there is the collective recognition that in them we see and can find the fullness of God.
5.1.4 The avatar will die
Being fully human inevitably means to embrace both birth and death. Krishna was fatally wounded by an arrow of a hunter before ascending into heaven.
Others chose to walk into a river, or a cremation fire. Jesus was crucified on a hill outside of Jerusalem. When the divine purpose is accomplished, their role is completed and they return to the Godhead.
5.1.5 There is some historicity in certain forms of avatar
Particularly with Krishna and Rama, they appear to be historical figures that lived and died as we do. Their families and clan are named, and many places are known to be historically linked to their physical presence. Their genealogies are both remembered and believed to be real. This is particularly the case with Jesus of Nazareth, whose genealogy is recorded in Matthew‟s gospel and is linked to many historical sites.
5.1.6 Avatars are repeated
In Hindu understanding, avatars descend to earth repeatedly, whenever there is a decline in righteousness. Thus within Hinduism, the number of avatars differ: some Puranas describe six, others ten, and others fourteen. Again, here we find a difference in that within Christianity, Jesus is incarnated “once and for all”. However this difference is not always as clear as it may appear initially. For what is the difference between a divine descent and for instance a revelation of God? Alternatively where is the boundary between an incarnation of God and a divinised human being?
5.1.7 The example and character of the avatar is crucial
Within both the devotional tradition and the bhakti tradition stress is on the incarnational form of God, epitomised by both Jesus and Krishna / Rama respectively. They were moral, compassionate human beings who lived authentically and consistently what they taught. They provide for us, even generations later, a supreme example of how to live a life of faith in the midst of suffering, temptation and with the moral and justice issues each generation has to face.
5.1.8 The avatar descends with a specific purpose
The incarnated form of God, from childhood is aware of their divine being and their divine purpose. Their presence amongst us is not to build homes and families, but to restore justice and overcome evil.
5.1.9 The avatar reveals a personal God of love and grace
In both the bhakti and devotional traditions, God is clearly envisaged as being both personal and with form. Repeatedly in the Bhagavad-Gita God is
described as the eternal and divine Person, the all highest Person, the Person all sublime, the father and mother of this world. (BG 9:17). In Christianity, in both the Old Testament and New Testament God is understood as being a personal God, a king, a warrior, a lover and eventually a friend. In the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray he uses the term of greatest intimacy that a child would use for their parent when addressing God, that of abba, my father or mother. Through the avatar God is revealed in all fullness, and enables us to enter into a personal relationship with the Godhead. We can speak with, love, laugh with or cry with this God. And in this encounter we discover a God of love and grace.
We can see from the above that there are indeed many similarities between these two concepts, and that we would be mistaken to assert that the theology of incarnation is exclusive to Christianity. One obvious difference in understanding would be the repeated descent of different forms of avatar as opposed to Christian understanding of Jesus incarnating once and for all.
Theologians such as Parrinder remind us though, that all the avatars are still the one Krishna and that they are the only incarnation for that present age.
(Parrinder 1970; 224)