In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says that the person who understands His avataras and His actions during those avataras, will attain moksha. Such is the greatness of His avatara rahasya, said M.A. Venkatakrishnan, in a discourse. The Lord took many avataras, in many forms, but not all understood His Supremacy. When He assumed an animal form, they mocked Him. And even when He assumed a human form, they saw Him as a mere mortal. Duryodhana even tried to get rid of Krishna, when the latter went to him as a messenger of the Pandavas. Even after seeing Krishna’s Viswarupa, the Kauravas fought against the Pandavas, although Krishna was on the side of the Pandavas. But some people understood His greatness, and among these was Sanjaya.
Sanjaya tells Dhrtarashtra that wherever Krishna is, victory will be on that side. Dhrtarashtra wonders why he himself did not realise this, and Sanjaya tells his king that only those without deceit and evil thoughts can comprehend the secret of the Lord’s avatara. Kooratazhvan, in his SundarabAhu stavam, says that people did not understand even the avatara of the Lord as Vishnu. In such a case, how would they have understood His Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha avataras? There are four types of bodies — deva, manushya, tiryak, and sthAvara. A jivatma gets one of these four, based on its punya or papa. Those with punyas, take birth as devas. If we have both punya and papa, then we take birth as humans. If one sins with his mouth, he is born as an animal, reptile, fish, bird, insect or worm (these come under tiryak). If he sins with his body, he takes birth as a plant or tree or grass (these come under sthAvara). But God’s avataras are not due to karma. He comes of His own will, to show us His saulabhya — His accessibility.
