The Hindu : Miscellaneous / Religion : Descent of the Lord

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Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous - Religion

Descent of the Lord

CHENNAI, NOV.17 . One of the basic tenets of Sanatana Dharma is the descent of the Supreme Being in the world by assuming different forms to vanquish those who transgress Dharma and to protect His devotees. Most of these incarnations of the Lord are undertaken with a specific purpose. And in religious tradition worship of these divine forms as the Absolute has given rise to different sects. In the practice of religion this enables people of different inclinations to worship the deity of their choice.

There is a story of a king belonging to a different faith who once raised the doubt to his minister whether the manifestation of God with a form did not impose a limitation on His transcendence. His intention was not to belittle but to genuinely understand this doctrine in Hinduism. The minister, who was a man of wisdom, did not answer the question immediately as that would have sounded very theoretical. He wanted to convince the king about this truth but he had to handle the matter delicately without hurting his sentiments as they both professed different religions. A few months went by and the king even forgot the whole matter.

One day, the royal family went boating on the river that flowed in their capital and the minister was part of the entourage. The minister expressed his wish to carry the crown prince who was a baby and the king joyfully allowed him to do so. After playing with the child for a while the minister suddenly flung the baby into the river. Everyone was taken aback by the audacity of the act but even before anyone could react, the king instead of ordering his attendants jumped into the water and rescued his son. When the king drew his sword to punish the minister, the latter reminded the king that the idea behind the act was to make him understand that God incarnated in the world for the sake of His devotees. Just as parents would go to any extent to protect their offspring so would the Almighty with respect to His creation, said Sri R. Selvaganapati in his discourse.

The manifestations of the Lord as Krishna, Muruga and Vinayaka must be thus seen as the personification of His benevolent grace. In a verse of his hymn, the Tiruppugazh, Arunagirinathar interprets each of the six faces of Muruga as having a distinct function in relation to His incarnation in the world. One of them is His role in the redemption of the soul from bondage by destroying Karma, which is the cause of rebirth.

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