All religions are concerned with eternity and with existence beyond physical death. Hinduism is concerned with the eternal being of the soul (atman or purusha) rather than with the soul’s relationship to God or to other souls. Reincarnation is not punishment for a sin but a curse. The Hindu hope is the realisation of the immortality of the soul, either in its individuality or its absorption into Brahman. The body is the prison house of the soul and therefore, any idea of any eternal union of body and soul is an embarrassment and an anathema. There is no place whatsoever for the idea of the resurrection of the body in the Hindu scheme of things. Thus in all forms of Hindu religion there is a type of dualism between the two worlds – one of eternal soul and the other of never-ending change and Maya (illusion), the world of cyclic time, space and transitory personality.
Sin for the Hindu is, therefore, not the personal moral guilt but an avidya, or ignorance of truth and maya (illusion). When the soul realizes its true self (atman), morality is transcended. Action is no longer considered wrong but a virtue if it is performed without attachment ot its consequences or fruit.
Salvation in Hinduism, as we have already seen, is primarily the separation of the eternal soul from the phenomenal world. It is release, moksha, or mukthi, from samsara, the wheel of rebirth, and from the bondage of karma, or action. The emancipated soul enters into mystical union with Brahman, the ultimate Reality. When the “enlightened” Hindu says “I am Brahman” he has no thought of blasphemy but is testifying to his view of salvation.
AVATARS (God among the people)
During the sixth century B.C there was a wave of revolt against priestly religion and intellectual speculation throughout the ancient world. The reaction was ethical, centering on a concern for morality, renunciation, good works and respect for all of life. In India the new thinkers offered a rational interpretation of the religious quests, and were generally agnostic or atheistic or metaphysical questions. In popular religion the trend was toward a personal god.
The period (600 B.C – A.D 300) was marked by the emergence and rise of two largely non-theistic movements, Buddhism and Jainism. The period of reaction is also marked by a renaissance of Hinduism, ushering in the so called “Epic Ages”: during which the Ramayana and Mahabharatha began to take their present form. The Hindu renaissance was a reaction to the growing influence of Buddhism during this period. Many of the Dharma Shastvas (manuals of moral conduct and social law) where also complied during this period. This period witnessed the rise of the three great sects of Hinduism: shaivism which worships the god shiva, vaishnavism or vishnuism which worships the god vishnu or one of his incarnations, and shaktism which worships the divine mother. This period was also marked by the Hinduization of southeast Asia including Java-sumatra and Borneo. Within India, Hindukism harmonized its Aryan tradition with Dravidian elements. The authority of the vedas, the caste system and the four stages of life, and the beliefs in the law of moral causation (Karma) and rebirth, as well as the three approaches (ritual, devotional and knowledge) to gods, where widely acknowledged. On the practical side, pilgrimages to holy places and image worship became popular among the masses.
Vishnu is said to be the most gracious of all the gods of Hinduism. This is indicated most of all in his avataras who are incarnated into the human and animal sense to save mankind and to destroy evil. Vishnu, the Hindus say, has come to earth from time to time to restore the worship of the gods when human beings have become careless about their religion. He comes in the disguise of animal or of a man to distroy evil in the world. There are stories of his coming as a fish, as a tortoise, as a bore, as a man-lion, as a dwarf, and as a terrible-tempered Brahmin who fought with an axe to deliver the brahmins from the tryanny of the Kshatriyas. He came once as a Rama, the hero of the Ramayana; the slayer of the powerful king Ravana, and once as Krishna, the cow herd of the Bhagavad Gita and also as Buddha. These appearances of Vishnu are called avataras (“descents”).
After the death of Gautama Buddha, many myths were told of him; among Hindus he is considered as an incarnation or an avatar of Vishnu “Brahmanism” says Pandit Nehru in his book, Discovery of India, “Made of Buddha and avatar, a god so did Buddhism”.
The number of avataras of Vishnu varied, but by the eight century the number had been stabilised as ten. The first five avataras are clearly mythological; the next three are heroic; the ninth is an effort to assimilate Buddhism into Vaishnavism; and the tenth Kalki is yet to come in this Kali Yuga. Vishnu is to come again to renovate the earth and to restore its lost purity.