The Relevance of the Bhagavadgita to Humanity

The First Six Chapters of the Bhagavadgita

by Swami Krishnananda

Chapter 14: The Coming of God as an Incarnation

The role of the divine immanence in the processes of this world, which we were trying to discuss yesterday, is effected by the omniscience of this presence through its Incarnation that takes place at that moment when it is felt necessary. The phenomenon of divine Incarnation is something which religious philosophy has not been able to understand clearly. What exactly is the Incarnation? How does it take place? We shall not be able to understand what it is because no one can understand the way in which God works. The coming of God, if it is what we understand by Incarnation, is something known to God only. We may attempt, from our own side, to find a meaning in this occurrence, but however much we may stretch our imagination and reasoning capacity, its meaning will not be clear to us.

How does God come, when does God come, and why does God come? These are hard things for us. We know, as it is assured us in the Bhagavadgita and in the scriptures of the world, that God is the friend of man, the saviour of humanity, and the benefactor of the whole of creation. It is said in all religions that God is the supreme friend of every created being. The final succour of everything mortal is in its relationship to the immortal, as the extent of our life in this world is conditioned by the extent of our relationship with the vitality that is in us. As long as the vitality operates in us in a meaningful relation with our living process, we shall be alive. When this relationship gets thinned out, we become feeble; we become senile and unable to act, both physically and mentally. When this relationship is snapped, we become corpses, nothings, insignificant existences.

We have enigmatic, unintelligible but profound references to the fact of Incarnation when we hear it said that Christ is the son of God. Christ also is the son of Man. We find such references in the New Testament. We can understand, to some extent, the meaning of Christ being the son of God because he has descended from God, has come from God, was sent by God as an ambassador of God, was God Himself in one proportion of intensity. But he is also the son of Man. You would have observed that the word 'man' is spelt with a capital M. He is not the son of any particular man; it is the son of Man as such. I have heard it explained by theologians that this M has a significance, and it is never written with a lowercase m.

God's coming is an effect, a response, as it were, to the call of man as such. A crucial circumstance arises in the very living conditions of mankind. It is not the problem of any single person; it is not a little man that is calling God, it is a big man that calls. You may remember that in one of our earlier sessions we had occasion to conclude that perhaps the whole of mankind is one man, that there are no 'many people' in this world. The total man is like the organism of humanity, and the redeeming forces in the organism begin to unleash their energy when there is some threat dealt by the intrusion of elements that are extraneous, inorganic, and toxic – toxic intrusions into the very purpose of creation.

At present, creation at the level of humanity may have to be dealt with by forces which maintain the organism in a stable manner. If a little thorn enters the sole of our foot, living and sustaining forces in the body are released into action by the organisation of the whole body. There is a governmental system, as it were, in an organism, in a living whole, and when that threat of an intrusion of any kind of extraneous element is felt, necessary forces for redeeming the organism from that kind of threat are released. The extent of the powers that are so released for effecting this remedial process depends also on the extent of the threat and the danger ahead. We do not have to manufacture a machine gun to drive out a mosquito. We have a little instrument for that. And so is the case with any kind of encounter in this world.

The coming of God, called the Avataras, especially in Indian tradition, has been in different forms. In Indian scriptures, in the epics and the Puranas, we are told that Avataras have been many. Ten of them have been mentioned as of primary importance among the many others which are said to be countless in number, and the ten Avataras are of different categories. They have not all assumed the same form, and they did not come for the same purpose. The kind of action that is expected perhaps decides the type of Incarnation that is summoned by the circumstances, and it is believed that the ten Incarnations of Maha Vishnu, the redeeming, sustaining force of the cosmos, are illustrations. Truth is, in a way, an inwardness of fact. It is hidden in the cave of the heart. This is how we are sometimes told about it in the Upanishads and other scriptures. Those who have read the background of the coming of these Avataras will know how they acted under given conditions and what were the circumstances that necessitated the coming of those Incarnations.

The cry of man will be heard by God, but it will be heard only to the extent of the intensity of the call. As I mentioned already, the need of the hour, the kind of the need of the hour, will determine the type of the coming and the extent of the help that we require. The whole sky does not fall on our head when it is only a little skirmish. The Puranas are illustrations here on this point. A threat to the solidarity of the whole of mankind need not necessarily mean that every man in the world is being threatened. When a toxin enters the body of a person, it need not enter every part of the body. From head to foot it need not come and attack the system. The threat may come from any corner, and the direction of this coming or the location of its contact with the organism is not important. What is coming is important. You can imagine the gravity of the situation when different kinds of toxic elements threaten the system. A little piece of thorn in the foot is one example, but a snake bite, even if it is on the same spot, is of a greater consequence. A scorpion sting is of consequence, though it need not necessarily mean that the entire body is attacked. We remember at once what is to be done when such an event takes place.

Thus, the threat of the welfare of mankind need not necessarily mean that the whole Earth is attacked from one corner to another corner. It may be a little part of the widespread humanity that is threatened, but the important aspect of it is: What is it that is threatened?

A kind of threat was felt by a region of mankind, in Judea, when it was necessary for a person like Christ to come there, and another kind of threat was in Mecca when a person like Mohammed had to come as a prophet, and there was another kind of threat, as we have described in the Puranas and the epics, which necessitated the coming of the Incarnations described, said to be the forms of Vishnu.

Now, what are these threats which God would be conscious of? God would be very, very aware and very vigilant about anything that is happening anywhere against Himself because the value of the whole of creation is nothing but the value of the recognition of God's presence in creation. God is the health of the cosmos. The physique of the universe is God's presence. The strength of the whole world is nothing but the extent of the presence of this universal significance inside it. The milder is the presence felt, the lesser is the health of that organism. Materialistic forces and atheistic forces, anti-divine forces, can operate in different ways. It does not mean that there are no materialists in this world today and that there are no atheists or undivine elements, but the manner of their manifestation and the extent of the threat that they can yield to humanity's existence varies. God's presence will not be felt as a necessity unless God's presence is entirely denied or it is about to be totally denied, as the entire action of the bodily forces is summoned to operate when the whole body is threatened as if it is not going to exist at all. Then there will be an upheaval in the whole system, like the rising of a fever to a high pitch or any kind of cumulative action of the sustaining powers of the body.

Many an answer has been given by theologians, philosophers, saints, sages and mystics in regard to the nature of the coming of God as an Incarnation upon the Earth, and we have endless expositions of this facet of the coming of God, all of which mystify us and make us feel helpless about the way in which we can comprehend how such a thing can take place. We can only have analogies, comparisons, illustrations, but an actual logical explanation of it is beyond us. We can only console ourselves by accepting that the coming of God as an Incarnation for redeeming humanity to establish righteousness may be something like the working of the human body to maintain itself as a healthy totality. Whenever such a necessity is felt, an Incarnation takes place.

Now, as was pointed out, whenever it is felt necessary, the Incarnation comes, as it is told to us in the Bhagavadgita. This means to say that there is a perpetual effort on the part of God's creation to maintain itself as a healthy total, as is the case with our own physical organism, for instance. There is a sleepless effort put forth by our body to maintain itself, and certain processes of the body never sleep. Even when our mind sleeps, the vital energies in the body never sleep. The pranas, which sustain the body, do not sleep. We breathe even when we are asleep. These vital breaths that we take in and out are the sentinels that guard the whole system against the entry of any kind of adverse elements. Likewise, there seems to be a guardian of the cosmos. Who else can it be than the Creator Himself? So there is no permission granted to the entry of any force which is adverse to the recognition by the world, by the whole creation, of an adequate percentage of the presence of this total health-giving existence, God's presence.

What we called materialism in a spiritual sense is an acceptance of a condition as adequate, totally contrary to the organic character of things. An inorganic existence is considered as adequate for the purpose. The inadequateness of this system comes into relief when we discover that there cannot be anything inorganic unless it is divested of intelligence, or consciousness. Actually, the total crass theory of materialism cannot hold water. It defeats its own purpose. A wholesale outside materialism is the doctrine of there being matter only, and nothing else. It is externality taking possession of everything else as if externality only exists, because matter is nothing but a name we give to the extreme form of externality where consciousness is dead.

Now, such a position cannot be maintained with any sensibility, but sometimes we seem to be tending towards that kind of acceptance under pressures of the organs of sense and by paying too much attention to the clamours of our passions, which insist that material existence is the only source of satisfaction and we cannot be, unless matter is. The philosophy, the doctrine, the theory that our life is totally dependent on the existence of material forces in the world to such an extent that we seem to be emanations of this material sustaining existence as if we are not there and matter only is – as if only the object is there and the subject is swallowed by the object – is a most untenable theory indeed. Such a thing is what we call philosophic materialism, but it cannot be held as a tenable system of thinking because there cannot be an acceptance of the existence of material forces unless there is a nonmaterial position which accepts such a position. It is not matter that assumes this philosophy, it is a doctrine held by an opinion which cannot be associated merely with an organic existence. How can we associate opinion with inorganic matter?

There is a subtle error in the logic of extreme forms of materialism when it is believed that matter, which is nothing but the object of perception, alone is, and nothing else can be, because if it alone is, there would be no one to hold the doctrine of materialism. There are people who may not be holding theoretical doctrines of this type, but virtually live a life of this kind. These are the practical materialists, not the academicians who hold this kind of theory. They live a life of matter, worse than animals, and behave like sluggish, lumbering vehicles rather than intelligent driving forces.

Excessive emphasis laid on economic forces, material forces, and even an excessive interest taken in only what we call a social infrastructure of existence can be identified with a kind of materialistic doctrine. Here we move too much in the direction of an object, beyond the permissible limit, and God is just what we call a universality of subjectivity. The more we deny the element of subjectivity in things, the more is God denied in that particular condition.

There are many forms of this kind of denial in our life. Our attachments to physical objects, things of sense, objects of passion, whatever they be, are tendencies to the denial of God because the subject clamours for satisfaction in terms of objects as if that satisfaction is located in the objects only: There is nothing in me that can satisfy me. My satisfaction is only in that which is not me, in the thing I love, and in the thing which is outside. It may be gold, it may be silver, it may be land, it may be property, it may be a person, it may be a social position, it may be a political authority – anything that is not me is what sustains me, and I cannot exist without that. This is a practical kind of materialism that many of us mostly live. We may not write a thesis on materialism but we live that kind of philosophy, and to that extent, we live an undivine life. The undivinity of our practical existence is in that proportion of our acceptance of the values of the external world in comparison with the values we attach to our own soul inside. We do not seem to have any soul at all. Our soul is not there. Even if the soul is there, perhaps it has lost its vitality. It is dead. Either we have no souls at all or they are dead souls when it appears to us that our existence is hanging on the tree outside, rather than in ourselves.

Each one of us is a witness to our own kind of living in the world. We stand witness to our own selves, and there is no need for any other witness for us. What kind of life are we living in the world? To what extent are we clamouring for satisfaction in money, in land, in property, in social associations, in positions, in recognitions, in the pampering of our egos? Even a word of thanks would, balloon-like, swell our egos.

Do we not believe that we are materialists? To the extent we cannot recognise that any value is there in us at all, we are bereft of any value. Somebody else is the value; we are not the value. That somebody else is our sustenance. That belief, honestly accepted, is that belief that all values are in things other than in one's own self, that the object is the value, and the subject is not the value. The subject is not only conditioned by the objects, it seems to be hanging on the object like a satellite. This is undivinity parading in all glory on earth, and then God comes with His rod in hand. This is because such a position is tolerated to some extent. Even a very bad man can exist in this world. To some extent such persons are tolerated by the law of nature. Utter untruth also is tolerated by nature for some time. Intense wickedness is sometimes seen in this world. It appears to be tolerated, but it cannot be tolerated beyond a certain limit. Our body tolerates irregularities of diet to some extent. Fatigue, exhaustion, sleeplessness, wrong diet and other things are to some extent tolerated by our body, but they are unhealthy processes which the body will resent. To some extent the body tolerates it, but it will not tolerate it beyond a certain limit. Then the body takes the whole matter in its hands, and we are in a terrific condition of ill health. Anything may manifest.

Now, God's Incarnation is supposed to be a remedying principle that is unleashed by the powers that be for the maintenance of the purposive action of the cosmos. The Bhagavadgita verse is sambhavāmi yuge yuge (BG 4.8): “I incarnate myself at every yuga.” According to the cyclic theory of creation, accepted wholly in India and to some extent in certain philosophical circles in the West also, nature moves in cycles, yugas, which are periods or aeons of the natural processes. There is a rising of culture and a coming down of culture, which has been historically studied by certain stalwarts in this field such as Arnold Toynbee. His volumes are a very interesting philosophic, we may even say spiritual, study of the cyclic processes in human history and destiny. Nations rise and nations fall; cultures rise and cultures fall. Why does this happen? The reason is given.

We have the yugas mentioned in ancient traditions. The yugas are called by the names Krita, Treta, Dvapara and Kali. The Krita Yuga is said to be the golden age, the millennium when God rules the world – Christ ruling the whole of mankind, as it were, where government is not possible and existent. It is a total perfection of divine action, everywhere everyone knowing what one's duty is, with angels ruling and immortal principles operating in the mortal panorama, where external instructions, rules, regulations – whether political, social or ethical – were not felt necessary. Everyone knew what was his duty, her duty; therefore, no instruction was necessary. Nobody said that you should do this or you should not do that. There were no regulations of any kind. That is the golden age of mankind, believed to be Krita Yuga. Then there was a diminution of this kind of life when the vociferous tendencies of division began to operate in a more pronounced manner, and people lost that consciousness of duty in some percentage, and a ruler was felt as a necessity – a king, a monarch, an administration, a government. In Treta Yuga, kings came into force. It became still worse in Dvapara Yuga when there was not merely an administration, but even the necessity of war. And in Kali Yuga it is only war, nothing else. Everywhere there is skirmish, scratching, and intense anxiety of everyone in respect of everyone else; that is Kali Yuga. We are said to be in this condition, which has not yet become intense. It is said to be just on its first foot. The Indian tradition tells us that several millions of years will be the extent of Kali yoga. Only some five and a half thousand years have passed, so we have not yet become too bad. Some good people still exist in this world. Dharma is not completely destroyed, and there are a few people at least in this world who know that God exists, and they believe it honestly. They have not yet gone to the extent of total denial, but it is said that a total denial will take place one day, and there will be a cataclysm, a catastrophe. The end of the world will be the beginning of the original state of affairs. The wheel will make a complete turn, and when things go to the uttermost extreme, the other extreme will come up into action, the golden age will come again, and so on, is the story.

So the Lord says, “In every yuga I incarnate myself: in Krita Yuga, in Treta Yuga, in Dvapara Yuga, in Kali Yuga.” Vishnu's Incarnations are said to be spread out in all these aeons. Also, philosophically, it should mean that God incarnates Himself as a redeeming, sustaining, protecting power whenever such a need is felt, which means to say, at every moment of crisis, in the same way as the health-giving forces of our physical organism are ready to act and incarnate themselves into action whenever a crisis arises in the body. So sambhavāmi yuge yuge: At every critical juncture in the history of the cosmos, God, the ever-vigilant sustaining power, incarnates Himself. Therefore, may we be happy. There need be no anxiety as long as we know, believe, remember and accept that God is with us, Narayana is ever with Nara, Krishna is ever with Arjuna, and God is ever with man.