TOI, Patna 26.12.2008

‘Avatar’ and Inter-Religious Harmony

Christian incarnation and Hindu ‘avatara’ are two important concepts that present God with a human face. Christmas signifies God’s identification with humanity by being born a human and sharing every human experience, except sin. This understanding was scandalous to the Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ time, and perhaps scandalous to many of us today.
Yet, a careful look at such an understanding will help us see our relationship with God, with other human beings and especially with people of other cultures and religions in a new light.
Religious experience of diverse traditions point to two ways of understanding God. First, God as transcendent, unapproachable, indescribable and almighty.
Brahman, Yahweh and Allah are three expressions used for such an understanding of God in Hinduism, Judaism and Islam respectively.
In Hinduism, the upanishadic Brahman is one (Ekam) without any name, form or qualities (Nirgunam), without any body (Niravayavam) and cannot be described n human language (Anirvachaneeyam). In Buddhism, the Ultimate is not even called god but ‘Shunyata’ (emptiness). The Bible speaks of God as I am who am _ no name, form or any attributes. In Islamic faith too Allah has no name or form.
This is the reason why in Judaism, to a certain extent in Christianity, and in Islam giving human or any other form to God was considered a grave sin.
Nevertheless, in all religions, there can also be found an intuitive experience of God being very close to us humans; he is a friend, a father, a lover etc. God even assumes human and other forms to reveal himself out of his grace and love for humanity. In Hinduism we understand this is terms of ‘avatara’. The word ‘avatara’ is derived from the preposition ‘ava’ meaning ‘down’ and the root ‘tr’ meaning to cross over.
Thus ‘avatara’ implies a point of departure and a descending movement; i.e. the descent of God to the human world. The Bhagvad Gita, chapter four, speaks of it as the descent of Vishnu in various forms for the protection of the good and for the destruction of the evildoers, repeatedly age after age (yuge yuge). There are different kinds and degrees of ‘avataras’.
‘Purnavatara’ are fully human whereas ‘Amsavatara’ are in semi-human or animal form. In the Hindu liturgical sphere ther is ‘Archavatara’, the descent of the deity to the object of worship such as an idol. The ‘avatara’ represents the presence and action of the divine in human history.
Though there is an obvious similarity between the Christian doctrine of incarnation and the Hindu doctrine of ‘avatara’, there is a point of dispute with regard to the ontological nature of ‘avatara’ in both the traditions. For some Hindus, ‘avatara’ cannot really suffer like humans because He is God. Rather, ‘avatara’ is an appearance, a play (leela).
The great Hindu theologian Shankaracharya, in his famous work ‘Gitabhashya’, says that Vishnu partially (amsena) became Krishna, though he is the unborn (aja) Lord of all beings (Bhutanam ishwara); by his own power he is perceived (lakshyate) as if (iva) with a body (deham), as if (iva) born etc. On the other hand, Christian doctrine of incarnation clearly states that God "became flesh", became fully human with all its connotations of true bodiliness, limitation and weakness, "except sin".
In the original texts of the Ramayana and Mahabharata too, Rama and Krishna behave very much as human beings and suffer pain authentically.
In Buddhism and Islam too we find divine experience in very human and proximate ways. In Buddhism, the Bodhisattvas, though endowed with suprahuman powers, postpone their nirvana for the sake of helping other humans. Buddha himself says, "Let all the miseries, suffering and diseases of humanity fall upon me".
In Islam too God is attributed with human qualities such as compassion and mercy. The Sufi mystics and saints too articulate God in various forms as lover, friend etc.
Bethlehem and Brajbhoomi are two different geographical, cultural and social contexts into which God is said to have descended and became human, thereby affirming God’s affinity with all cultures, languages and people.
The chasms of irrational religious divides stem from a false idea that God has an exclusive preference for a particular culture, language and people and revelation comes to us only in and through these.
Such a view goes totally against the core of every religious faith that god is the creator and protector of the entire world and all beings. The doctrine of Christian incarnation and the Hindu ‘avataras’ stand counter to any extremist view that denies divine revelation in other religions.
Religious groups can be harmonizing agents rather than fragmenting forces if they recognize the universal presence of the divine in all cultures.