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14. THE CONCEPT OF AVATARS
So when the situation reaches a boiling point, He decides to take matters into His own hands and come down to earth in physical form to restore order and morality. In Hinduism, an evil force is not opposed to God against His will. It is a force that works for God in its own evil ways. God uses these forces to create situations that warrant His intervention. It is part of His divine drama already planned and embedded in the design. Most of the demons that He slew during his many incarnations were but his own devotees who out of arrogance asked for things that would ultimately lead to the welfare of the good and the destruction of the evil and themselves. From the perspective of duality, we may say the demon was destroyed by a divine force for a good cause. But from the highest perspective of the unity of all creation, we cannot deny the fact that by destroying the evil force God facilitates its ultimate dissolution into Himself and the dawn of a new awareness and promulgation of a new code of conduct among people. So from the highest perspective, an incarnation is a drama (leela) with in a bigger drama (maha leela), orchestrated by God for his own enjoyment and for keeping His laws in place. This, in brief, is the purpose and justification of an incarnation, which the followers of Vaishnavism accept as an undeniable truth.
Here is how the leela is acted out: Shri Mad-Bhaagvat Puraan Skandh 7:Chapter 1
Shukdev Jee said - "In fact Bhagvaan is Nirgun, Ajanmaa (does not born), cannot be described and is beyond Prakriti, still He with His Maayaa performs all kinds of actions. Sat, Raj and Tam are the Gun of Prakriti, not of Paramaatma. And these three Gun are not always present in the same amount in Prakriti. Bhagavaan takes all Gun at time to time. When Sat Gun is more, He takes care of Devtaa and Rishi; when Rajo Gun is more, He takes care of Daitya; and when Tamo Gun is more, He takes care of Yaksh and Raakshas. When He wants to take any 'body' for Himself then He creates a separate Rajo Gunee creation with His Maaya. When He wants to take strange Yoni (species), He creates them with Sato Gun and when He wants to sleep, then He increases Tamo Gun. Kaal depends on Him not that He depends on Kaal. Whenever this Kaal Eeshwar increases Sato Gun, He increases the power of Devtaa and kills Tamo Gunee Daitya.
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