DASAVATHARAM

Lord Vishnu is the Preserver or Sustainer of life with his steadfast

principles of order, righteousness and truth. WHEN THESE VALUES ARE

UNDER THREAT, VISHNU EMERGES OUT OF HIS TRANSCENDENCE TO

RESTORE PEACE AND ORDER ON EARTH.

His Ten Avatars are

Matsya (fish)

Koorma (tortoise)

Varaha (boar)

Narasimha (half man half lion)

Vamana (the dwarf)

Parasurama (the angry man)

Sri Rama (the perfect human)

Balarama (Sri Krishna's brother)

Sri Krishna (the divine diplomat & statesman)

Kalki (yet to appear 10th Avatar).

��Proud to be a Hindu��

MATSYA - 1st of Lord Vishnu's Dasavathar.

Once King Manu was under strict penance and was performing

ablutions in the water of River Kritamala (Vaigai). He took a handful of

water and was surprised to find a small fish which requested him for

rescue. When this small fish started growing extraordinarily in size, the

king realised that it should be Lord Vishnu in the form of fish. At once

the king prostrated and the God predicted that the world will come to

an end shortly, ordered the king to carry each species in a huge boat

which HE appearing as a gigantic fish would propel the boat to Mount

Himavat. Everything went according to the prediction and thus King

Manu, being a noble man and an ardent devotee could become

successful in this allotted work.

��Proud to be a Hindu��

KOORMA- 2nd of Lord Vishnu's Dasavathar.

Once Sage Durvasa presented a flower garland to Lord Indra who

just gave it to his elephant Airavatam which trampled the garland. The

angered sage cursed the Devas to lose their immortality. In order to

regain their lost immortality, the Devas approached Lord Vishnu to help

them in their great task of churning the Milky Ocean to extract

Amrutam (Nectar) from the depths of the ocean. The divine serpent

Vasuki was used as a rope for churning the Mandara mountain which

was placed on the hard shell back of the Koorma Roopam of Lord

Vishnu.

Thus Lord Vishnu incarnated taking the form of amphibian (living both

in land and water) which is a gradual evolution to higher form than the

previous Pisces form (totally aquatic).

��Proud to be a Hindu

VARAHA - 3rd of Lord Vishnu's Dasavathar

During ancient time, a powerful Asura (Demon) named

Hiranyaksha was creating havoc in the three worlds. Once while Lord

Brahma was in deep meditation, Hiranyaksha snatched Mother Earth

(Bhoodevi), the four Vedas (Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvana) and other

sacred scriptures. He pushed all these into the depths of the ocean. In

order to re-position Mother Earth, Lord Vishnu had to incarnate in the

form of Varaha (wild boar) to dive into the deep ocean. After a fierce

fight with the Asura, Lord Vishnu in the form of wild boar killed the

demon with HIS sharp tusks, got Mother Earth back and re-positioned

her. Thus from the previous amphibian form, there is an evolution to

higher form of a mammal/beast.

NARASIMHA-4th of Lord Vishnu's Dasavathar

A mighty demon king Hiranyakashipu gets a boon from Lord

Brahma that his defeat and death is highly impossible and neither a

man or animal can kill him. Prahlada, son of Hiranyakashipu is a

staunch devotee of Hari (Lord Vishnu). The father feels his son is his

enemy and tries to kill him but in vain since everytime Prahlada was

attacked, the God would save him. In a fit of anger Hiranyakashipu asks

his son who is this Hari and where does he live, the son answers that

the Lord is all pervading and is present everywhere. Pointing out to a

nearby pillar, the father asks whether Hari is here, Prahlada says 'yes'.

Now the outrageous demon king hits the pillar with his mace, it slits

into two halves and from within comes the strange being with Lion's

head and human body roaring and pouncing on Hiranyakashipu and

kills him. This avatar signifies the gradual evolution of a wild beast to a

beastly human form.

VAMANA-5th of Lord Vishnu's Dasavathar

King Bali, the grandson of Prahlada was a great devotee of Lord

Vishnu, conquered the three worlds. Due to this Indra and other

devatas feared their positions and sought help from Lord Vishnu who

took the form of Vamana (a dwarf ascetic). Thus Vamana appeared

before King Bali and requested for three feet of land which the King

accepted gladly though he was warned by his Guru - Sukracharya. Lord

Vishnu who was in the form of a dwarf took a gigantic form and

covered the entire Earth with one foot, the entire heaven or sky with

the second foot. When Lord Vamana asked for the third foot, King Bali,

who was fully aware that it was Lord Vishnu asked to place the third

foot on his head. Thus, King Bali was pushed to the Patala loka or the

netherworld. In this avatar, the evolution stage is from beastly man to a

dwarf human where there is a gradual evolution of civilized creature.

PARASURAMA - 6th of Lord Vishnu's Dasavathar

The incarnation of Lord Vishnu as a Brahmin who was born with

unusual physical strength to Sage Jamadagni and Renuka. He was gifted

with a Parasu or Axe by Lord Shiva and thus always holds it in his hand.

He takes revenge against kshetriyas as his father was killed by the sons

of King Kartavirya who steals Kamadhenu (the gifted cow) from

Jamadagni. In this incarnation, there is a further evolution to a

powerful human from a dwarf man in the previous avatar.

��Proud to be a Hindu��

SRI RAMA - 7th of Lord Vishnu's Dasavathar

Raguvamsam by Brahmasri Anantharama Deekshitar (3min Audio)

http://vedapatasala.com/Raguvamsam/3minutesaudio.mp3

Sri Rama, the eldest son of King Dasaratha and Queen

Kausalya in Ayodhya, is one of the most important avatars of Lord

Vishnu in the Treta Yuga. The divine character of Sri Rama, represents

the ultimate embodiment of truth, of morality, of chivalry and virtue.

An ideal son, an ideal husband, an ideal brother and above all, an ideal

king - Sri Rama is referred as MARYADHA PURUSHOTTAMA – the

Perfect Man/Lord of Self-Control/Lord of Virtue. Lord Vishnu took this

avatar to combat Ravana - the most powerful demon king. Considering

the stages of evolution from simple to complex beings, from a powerful

enraged human there is a gradual transformation to highly civilized

human.

BALARAMA-8th of Lord Vishnu's Dasavathar

Lord Vishnu incarnated as Balarama when Indra and the other

gods came and asked for release from the demon son Kamsa, king of

Mathura. Vishnu took one black and one white hair from his head and

promised that these two would come to fight against the demons. This

way, first Balarama (the white hair) and then Krishna (the black hair)

incarnated in the womb of Devaki. To save him from Kamsa, Balarama

was transferred secretly from Devakis womb to that of Rohini´s, from

which he was born. Both the brothers Balarama and Krishna grew up in

a cowherd's family.

At an early age, he killed the demon Dhenuka, accompanied

Krishna to Mathura and supported him until Kamsa was killed.

Balarama also released Krishna´s son, Samba, from Duryodhana's

prison.

Balarama is a symbol of strength, an obedient son, an ideal

brother and husband. He is a protector from desires, symbolizing duty,

honesty and simplicity. He increases the transcendental bliss of others,

hence the name 'Rama', because of his extraordinary strength he is also

called as 'Balabhadra'.

SRI KRISHNA-9th of Lord Vishnu's Dasavathar

Mother Earth and Lord Brahma unable to bear the burden of

sins committed by evil kings and rulers like Kamsa, prayed to the Lord

Vishnu, who assured them that he would soon be born as Sri Krishna to

end these forces. Kamsa, the ruler of Mathura (in northern India)

utterly terrified his people by his actions. On the day of his sister

Devaki's marriage, an akashvani or voice from the sky was heard

prophesying that her 8th son would be his destroyer, frightened by this

Kamsa imprisoned both Devaki and her husband Vasudeva thereby

killing all the new borns until the 8th one. Devaki and Vasudeva prayed

to Lord Vishnu, who appeared before them and said he himself was

coming to rescue them and the people of Mathura. Vasudeva was told

to carry the Lord just after birth to the house of his friend, the cowherd

chief Nanda in Gokula, where Nanda's wife Yashoda had given birth to

a daughter, exchange his boy and bring Yashoda's baby daughter back

to the prison.

Contd..2

-2-

At midnight on ashtami , the divine baby was born in Kamsa's prison.

Remembering the divine instructions, Vasudeva held the baby above

his head (protected by five-mouthed snake-Adisesha) and reached

Gokula after crossing river Yamuna (which gave way). He exchanged

the babies and hurried back to the prison of Kamsa with the baby girl.

Early in the morning, all the people at Gokula rejoiced the birth of

Nanda's beautiful male child. When Kamsa came to know about the

birth, he rushed inside the prison and tried to kill the baby. But this

time it skipped from his hand and reaching the sky. She was

transformed into the goddess Yogamaya, who told Kamsa: "O foolish!

What will you get by killing me? Your nemesis is already born

somewhere else."

In his youth Krishna killed Kamsa along with all his cruel associates,

liberated his parents from prison, and reinstated Ugrasen as the King of

Mathura.

Lord Krishna preached Srimad Bhagavath Geeta to Prince Arjuna in the

battlefield of Mahabharat who was emotionally affected fighting his

own kith and kins.

This incarnation proves that there is an evolution of higher human with

high intelligence and smart human who could face all the difficulties

right from childhood and thus achieve success.

KALKI-10th of Lord Vishnu's Dasavathar

Kalki avatar is yet to be incarnated. It is believed that Lord Vishnu

will incarnate himself as Kalki, riding a white horse with blazing sword

in his hands. At the end of Kali Yuga (present eon), he will punish all evil

doers in this world, destroy this world and recreate a golden age again.

As Lord Sri Krishna says in Srimad Bhagavad Gita - Ch 4 Slokas 7 & 8

YADA YADA HI DHARMASYA GLANIRBHAVATI BHARATA

ABHYUTTANAM ADHARMASYA TADAATMANAAM SRUJAMYAHAM.

O Bharata, whenever there is decline of righteousness and rise of evil, I

manifest Myself.

PARITRANAYA SADHOONAAM VINASHAYACHA DUSHKRITAAM

DHARMA SAMSTHAPANARTHAYA SAMBHAVAAMI YUGE YUGE

For the protection of the righteous, for the destruction of wicked, and

for the establishment of Dharma, I am born in every age.