How do these souls eventually realize the deeper evolutionary truth—will they be reborn to continue their Spiritual Journey despite their current belief, or do they remain in a state of partial ignorance?
The stories recounted in the Scriptures are generally symbolic. Most interpreters take them literally and then convert them into irrefutable dogmas that are based on personal beliefs. But while beliefs may be comforting, they never quite satisfy the seeker’s soul that is less interested in Paradise and more in the fundamental truths that govern our existence.
The story of Adam and Eve recounts the fall when the innocent children questioned the truths told to them. The questioning thought entered after they ate the fruit from the forbidden tree. Clearly, it is a story about the fall of man from his early animal-like innocence as the questioning mind began to seek. Religions often want us to go back to that early primitive humanity’s unquestioning state. But that Paradise is already lost and with a purpose. That purpose is to complete the evolutionary curve and evolve into the conscious Godhead and be one with God. The story of Christ that follows is the story of the Son of God who comes to redeem man, that is to say, restore the human soul to its original sinless purity before the fall. But now that the fruit of knowledge has been tasted, this restoration is not simply a reversal to primitive ignorance but a growth into conscious divinity. That is what is meant by becoming one with Christ, or the imitation of Christ. This is the gain that follows the fall.
So far so good. But then does it mean that God chose only one medium to redeem? This would be both illogical and almost cruel of God Himself, who exhausts His infinite Mercy, Benevolence and Saviour Grace with one single birth, giving one solitary chance to the soul for its redemption.
It is here that the idea of Avatar comes in. The idea behind this is that the universe and humanity advances with the flux and flow of Time. The Divine not only enters the flow but also takes the lead, the charge of the human march to take it one step forward towards the ‘Promised land’, that is to say a New Earth, redeemed by the Divine Touch. It is this touch of the Divine directly upon Matter, this assumption of the human body or an earthly body to stamp the Divine Consciousness upon physical matter. Once the touch is given, it carries humanity in its forward march for at least a thousand and more years. In simple words, the Avatar, the Divine Descent or Advent, is a dynamic action of the Transcendent Divine who is beyond Creation in an Unmanifest state. The Advent is of the Divine in His Universal poise, whom we in India call as Krishna. The Transcendent poise is called as Shiva. The Avatar combines both. He takes away those who want release, whereas He helps the forward march (towards the Divine Fulfilment of conscious divinity in earthly material life). But since He comes in a certain context of Time and Space, his birth is conditioned to fit the frame of humanity in the Age during which he arrives. That is how mankind evolves. It is somewhat like a grand Relay race where one Avatar hands over the baton of humanity to another. Avatars are the special ‘Son of God’ who enter creation to lead it forward. That is how Sri Rama, Sri Krishna, Buddha, Christ, and now Sri Aurobindo are all Avatars whose action is strongest for a few centuries after their birth. But slowly it fades away, gets limited and distorted by the limited human understanding that quickly turns it into a Religion. Then politics mixes with the Religion until the truth of the Avatar fades or gets nearly completely covered by Time and the new Avatar comes to lead it forwards. All kinds of stories are built to gain numbers and control over wealth and power. But that is a different matter. The new Avatar comes to carry the march forward while humanity is busy worshipping the Avatar of the Past. This is what the Gita refers to as Sambhavami Yuge Yuge.
Hope it puts things in perspective. So Christ is an Avatar, but an Avatar of the past that answers to a kind of humanity yet belongs to his Age. But he is surely not the only one and neither the last one.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
