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14. THE CONCEPT OF AVATARS
Two important points are involved herein:
(a) Primarily in the Rig Veda, the "Asuras" are shown as spiritual divine beings; their etymology is derived from asu (breath), the "Breath of God," and they mean the same as the Supreme Spirit or the Zoroastrian Ahura. It is later on, for purposes of theology and dogma, that they are shown issuing from Brahma's thigh, and that their name began to be derived from a, privative, and sura, god (solar deities), or not-a-god, and that they became the enemies of the gods. ... - H.P.Blavinsky The Secret Doctrine, II, 59
A Sura is a Kumara -- a god. Because of their great purity, virginality in every sense of the word, Hindu mythology called them gods. Actually they are monads in so pure, as yet unevolved, a state, so undeveloped a state, that they are swept along, as it were, in the evolutionary Rivers of Life.
When this Sura or Kumara has become an Agnishwatta, it is then an Asura. And Hindu mythology, or rather Brahmanical theology, with the same spirit behind it that you will find in Christian theology, says -- and I will now use Christian language -- "It has eaten of the Tree of Life, of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and it is no longer virginal and pure." That is the Christian theological way of explaining it. But leaving these dogmatic theologies of the religions aside, what actually are the facts?
That from an unself-conscious god-spark, a Kumara -- the Sura, the monad, the same thing -- through suffering and experience in the lower realms of matter, in the different planes, has become an Agnishwatta. It has tasted of the fire and has become a self-conscious god, an Asura.
Asura really comes from Asu, the essential meaning of which in Sanskrit is 'to, breathe.' You will find it in other languages. The verbal root as, in Sanskrit meaning 'to be,' is the same essential idea. So the Asuras are not merely unself-conscious god-sparks swept along through the ages unselfconsciously on the Rivers of Life. They are those who have gained self-consciousness; or, to use a Buddhist term meaning the same thing, they have become celestial Dhyanis, celestial Bodhisattvas, celestial Buddhas.
Studies in Occult Philosophy by G. de Purucker, Theosophical University Press Online Edition http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/ soph/sopssdo2.htm
Evidently we need to look into other possible religious groups ouside of these three - Vaishanavite, Buddhist and Jain to find the Asuras. They were evidently powerful enough to withstand and even overcome all these three religions. The only choice we are left with is the religion which was brought into India early in the Christian Era by St.Thomas who were known as Issa followers or Christians.
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