In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says that He will take avataras as and when needed, in order to protect sadhus, to destroy the wicked and to establish dharma. But there is an important aspect to this verse that merits special attention, because it very clearly establishes the purpose of avataras, said M.A.Venkatakrishnan, in a discourse.
Why did the Supreme One have to leave Sri Vaikuntha and come to earth for any purpose? The Universe itself is His leela. He can accomplish anything at will. And yet, He chose to come and live on earth, in our midst. And when He did so, He did not display His Supremacy, but showed extreme simplicity, taking even the form of animals and the form of half man, half-lion in the Narasimha avatara.
The answer to the question as to why He took avataras, instead of just doing everything from His heavenly abode itself, is given by Ramanuja in His Sri Bhashya, in the antaradhikaraNa. Here Ramanuja says that the purpose of the Lord’s avataras is to save sadhus, because the latter desire to see Him and to touch His feet. This is the primary purpose, and the killing of the wicked is secondary. Coming back to the verse in the Gita, the use of the word ‘ca’ here is significant. The Lord says paritrANaya sAdhUnAm, vinAsAya ca dushkrtAm. ‘Ca’ means also. That means He also kills the wicked. One can take an ordinary day to day example to understand this. Suppose two people come to an event, of whom one is famous. Then we first mention that the famous man attended the event, and then we add that the other person also came to the event. So, his coming is not so noteworthy as that of the well-known person. Likewise, the use of ‘ca’ in the Gita verse, shows that He primarily came to save sadhus. In the process, He also killed the demons.
