Know Meaning And Concept Of Avatar Or Incarnation In Hinduism

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Avatar when translated to English literally means Descending downwards. You must have heard of Gangavataran which means advent or descending down of the river Ganga. Hindus staunchly believe that whenever the evil overpowers the good in the world, God arrives on Earth to provide justice to the suffering souls, uplift them, and punish the wicked. He descends just when it is time for him to come, and restores the Dharma by helping the righteous. During the time of Vedas, there were no avatars, and as time gradually passed, as the wickedness set inside the minds of the earthly inhabitants, God decided to arrive into the scene to restore dharma. During vedic times, there were avatars because no one was indulging in adharma and hence there was no need for the god to arrive.
God is called Parabrahma in Upanishads and he is one and the only one that rules the universe. Brahman is beyond name; form and the whole world is his body and he is its soul. Any avatar that arrives in the earth is the parabrahman, who is the sole god of the universe.

Vishnu Avatars

As per the Vaishnava tradition, Mahavishnu is the sole entity that rules this entire world, preserves it and he is the brahman of this universe. Lord Vishnu has taken ten avatars which are considered as very important.
1) Matsya 2) Kurma 3) Varaha 4) Narasimha 5) Vamana 6) Parashurama 7) Rama 8) Krishna 9) Balarama 10) Kalki.
As per the Bhagavatam, there are 14 avatars enlisted including Vyasa, Nara-Narayana, Mohini, Narada, Dattatreya and so on. However, as per puranas the number is restricted to ten. Some people consider Buddha to be the tenth avatar that is kalki. But the facts do not match the description as kalki is supposed to arrive after almost 4 crore and odd years of Kaliyuga began.

Countless Avatars

Avatars are countless because they take earthly form and descend whenever there is adharma overpowering the lives of people.
Several saints and mahatmans are considered as avatar purushas as the precepts they preached are as poignant as puranas and Upanishads. Avatar purushas give sermons in the local language as they are easier to understand and not as tough as Sanskrit. Many avatar purushas were worshipped by Hindus.

Avatar Purushas

Shri Shankaracharya is hailed as an Avatar of Lord Shiva. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is called an Avatar of Radha. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa is considered a divine Avatar. Shirdi Saibaba is considered an Avatar of God, whose transracial appeal held everyone in devotion and raptures... Sri Satya Saibaba is considered an Avatar of Shiva-Shakti. Bhagwan Ramana Maharshi is considered by some devotees as an avatar of Subrahmanya.
There are saints who sang keertans of God, shedding tears of Bhakti. Some attained Gnyana and taught that to people.

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