KALKI AVATAR

In KALKI Avatar, Lord Vishnu will incarnate himself as KALKI, the machine-man, who will come riding his white horse and with his blazing sword in his hands. This is supposed to be a future avatar of Lord Vishnu. At the end of Kali Yuga (present eon) He will punish all evil doers in this world, destroy this world supposedly and recreate a golden age again. 

 KALKI is the last of the avatars of Lord Vishnu.

BUDDHA AVATAR

In BUDDHA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as BUDDHA, the ascetic prince who renounced the throne to lead the world on the path of peace. He is the founder of the BUDDHIST religion prominent across the world. In certain sects of Hinduism, he is considered to be a divine incarnation of Lord Vishnu. He was born the crown prince of the Kapilavastu to Suddhodana and Maya. He was named Siddhartha, meaning "All thing fulfilled" by the king. But his mother died soon after his birth but Prajapati, the sister of Maya, brought Siddhartha up. 

Buddha was saddened by death of living creatures, since his childhood days and used to question: "Alas! Do all living creatures kill each other?". He wasn't happy with any answers that were provided to him and he decided to find out the meaning and the absolute truth and he left his wife and child to a hermit's life in the forest and one day, became the enlightened one. His preachings spawned off the religion of Buddhism now popular across the whole world.

KRISHNA AVATAR

In KRISHNA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as KRISHNA , the central character in the epic MAHABHARATA. In this biggest epic of Indian mythology a myriad of topics are covered, including war, love, brotherhood, politics etc. It is essentially the story of two warring groups of cousin brothers, the PANDAVAs and the KAURAVAs. As a part of the Mahabahrata, during the war KRISHNA, gives a long discourse to his disciple ARJUNA, collectively termed as Bhagvad-Gita. Krishna, during his child-hood was responsible for the killing of Kansa. Krishna is also considered to be an ultimate playboy who was resonsible for charming all gopikaas(cowherdesses) around him. 

Unlike Ramayana, Mahabharata deals with more down to earth issues like politics, human nature, human weaknesses, and does not attempt to idealise the characters as in RAMAYANA

RAMA AVATAR

In RAMA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as RAMA , the central character in the epic RAMAYANA. In this biggest epic of Indian mythology a myriad of topics are covered, including war, love, brotherhood,ideal man , son etc. It is essentially the story of an ideal king, son, father and man, RAMA. As an ideal son, he agrees to abide by wishes of his father King Dasaratha to spend 14 years in forest, along with his wife Sita and brother Lakshman. During the course of his stay in forest, the demon Ravana abducts his wife Sita. Ram then sets out in search of his wife. During this he makes friends with king of monkeys Sugreeva, and his devotee Hanuman. In the end he wages a war with Ravana and rescues Sita to return to Ayodhya and rule it as an ideal king for 1000 s of years

PARUSARAMA AVATAR

In PARASURAMA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as a brahmana(priest) in this world. He was brought in this world to avenge all kshatriyas who had become arrogant and were suppressing the brahmans in the world. He was born to Jamadagni and Renuka, and belonged to the Brighu clan. Parashurama was always carrying an axe presented to him by Lord Shiva of whom he was an ardent devotee. Kartavirya a powerful king, once went to Jamadagni's home when he was out, and after a meal, stole the Kamadhenu cow, which was supposed to give endless quantity of milk. Jamadgni was enraged and he went and killed the king and brought Kamadhenu back. On hearing this the son of the king came back and killed Jamdagni.

Parasurama was enraged at this and went and avenged the death of his father by killing all kshatriyas in 21 battles. His story is story of the supremacy of brahmans over the kshatriyas.

VAAMANA AVATAR

In VAMANA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as a dwarf priest in this world. BALI, the grandson of Prahlada was a very valorous and mighty asura. By his penance and might, he conquered the whole world. Indra and other gods fearing that he and asuras would conquer all the three worlds, went to Lord Vishnu for help. Lord Vishnu was then born as a dwarf Vamana in the household of a brahmana(priest). He went to Bali on growing up and asked for alms. Bali was delighted to offer him anything he requested even though his priest warned him that it was Lord Vishnu.  

Vamana then requested for the amount of land that could come under his three feet. Bali gracefully agreed. Lord Vishnu then grew in size and covered the earth and heaven in two stride. And due to lack of space, he put his third leg on Bali himself and crushed Bali to the nether or the Patala loka(underground world), thus helping the Gods out

NARASIMHA AVATAR

In NARASIMHA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as a semi-man,semi-lion in this world. The king of demons(asuras), Hiranyakasyapa, wanted to become immortal and wanted to remain young forever. To this end, he meditated for Lord Brahma and because of his severe penance, the gods were frightened and asked Brahma to pacify the king. Brahma was impressed by his austerity and granted him a wish. HiranyaKasyapa wished that he be neither killed by a man or beast, nor in daylight or at night and neither inside or outside a building. Having obtained the wish he considered himself the supreme God and frobade all worship of gods by anyone. But his son Prahlada, was an ardent devotee of Vishnu. This enraged Hiranyakasyapa very much. He ordered numerous ways to kill Prahlada including asking his sister Holika to sit with Prahlada in the fire. But everytime Prahlada escaped unhurt. Enraged, once he asked Prahlad to show him the Lord Vishnu. Prahlad said, "He is everywhere". Further enraged, Hiranyakasyapa knocked down a pillar, and asked if Lord was present there. Lord Vishnu then emerged as a half lion, half man from the pillar which was neither inside the house nor outside, and the time was evening, neither night nor day. He then killed Hiranyakasyapa thus saving the life of his devotee Prahlada

VARAHA AVATAR

In VARAHA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as a boar in this world. A demon Hiranyaksha, had prayed for Lord Brahma and got awarded a boon that no beast nor man nor god could kill him. But somehow from the list of beasts the name of boar was missing. This proved to be his lacunae. He then started a campaign of plunder across the worlds. He pushed the world to the Pataal loka, or the under of the sea. He stole the Vedas, the holy scriptures from the Lord Brahma, while he was asleep and performed huge atrocities.

To retrieve the Vedas and to save the world the Lord Vishnu assumed the role of a boar and brought out the earth from the under of the ocean, using its two tusks. It then killed Hiranyaksha and retrieved the Vedas from the asura and brought it back to the safe custody of the Lord Brahma

KURMA AVATAR

In KURMA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as a tortoise. It is an interesting story involving both the gods (Devtas) and asuras (demons). In the ongoing saga of battle between the gods and asuras, on one occasion the gods suddenly lost all their strength due to a curse by the short-tempered sage Durvasa. The sage had once presented a garland of flowers to Indra,king of gods, who carelessly gave it away to his elephant which trampled it. 

The Devtas approached Vishnu for help. Vishnu then asked them to churn the ocean of milk after adding medicines into the ocean. Mt Mandara could be used a the churning stick he said. He requested them to ask them help of Asuras in lifting the mountain in exchange for offer of the share of nectar of immortality that would ensue from the churning. Both the devatas and the asuras churned the ocean using the serpent Vasuki as the rope. At the start, playing a Machiavellian trick, Indra, king of the gods asked the asuras for the head end of vasuki. But asuras suspecting foul play, took the head end, only to be deceived as the poison from Vasuki was slowly weakening them. But as churning was proceeding the mountain was sinking and then Lord Vishnu took the form of the tortoise KURMA and kept the mountain afloat. As soon as the bowl of amrita, the nectar of immortality was out, the asuras grabbed it. Then Lord Vishnu took the form of an apsara, a beautiful maiden, and seduced the asuras into letting her distribute the nectar and also to abide by her order of distribution. As soon as the devatas were served the maiden disappeared thus totally deceiving the asuras and making them totally weak.

AVATARS OF LORD VISHNU

THE STORY OF MATSYA AVATAR

In MASTYA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as a fish in this world. In the earliest yuga (era) of Sata-yuga, a king named Manu was performing severe penance for thousands of years. One day as he was performing ablutions with river water, a small fish came into his hands and just as he was about to throw the fish back into the river, the fish requested the king to save its life. Heeding its request, the king put the fish into a jar of water but the fish started growing and the jar was not big enough for it. Then the king threw it into the river, but it soon it outgrew the river and the king then threw it into Ganges and then into the ocean. The king realised that it was Lord Vishnu himself and then the lord made an appearance and made a special request to the king. It predicted that the world would come to an end by a huge flood in seven days and requested the king to build a huge boat and take the seven sages(hermits), seeds of all plants, one animal of each type and told him that he would appear as a fish to propel the boat to Mt Himavan for surviving the flood to the next yuga(eon). True to his word, after seven days the Lord appeared and the king tied the boat to the fish by using the royal serpent Vasuki and the fish took all of them to Mt Himavan and kept them there till the flood was over and in the new era, the king started procreation a for the new era.

The Significance of 108

You may have noticed the number 108 a few times, maybe you have heard about repeating Sun Salutations 108 times or about prayer beads that consist of 108 beads. You may have wondered what the significance of 108 was. 108 can be found in mathematics, astronomy, in scriptures and beyond. Some consider 108 a sacred number, some say there isn’t enough proof to determine the significance of 108. Below are a few references as to the existence and what is said about 108 in history and today.

Yoga
In Kriya Yoga, the maximum number of repetitions allowed to be practiced in one sitting is 108.

108 Sun Salutations in yoga practice is often used to honor change e.g. change of seasons, or at a time of tragedy to bring peace, respect and understanding.

Mala
On Mala, mantra counting beads, you will find 108 beads or some fraction of 108. A larger bead called Meru on Mala is not counted as one of the 108 Mala bead, rather it is the guiding bead, a bead that marks the beginning and the end of the mala.

Sanskrit
Sanskrit alphabet has 54 letters, each has masculine and feminine form called shiva and shakti respectively. 54 times 2 = 108.

Pranayama:
It is said that if one can be so calm in meditation to have only 108 breaths a day that enlightenment will come.

Chakras:
There are said to be 108 energy lines or nadis converging to form the heart chakra.

Marmas:
Marmas are like Chakras, intersection of energy, with fewer converging energy lines. On Sri Yantra, the Marmas have 54 intersecting energy lines where three lines intersect. Each have feminine, shakti and masculine, shiva qualities. 54 times 2 = 108. Therefore there are 108 points that define the human body and the Sri Yantra or the Yantra of Creation.


Mathematics:
Each of the interior angles formed by two adjacent lines in a regular pentagon equal 108 degrees.

108 is a Harshad Number, an integer divisible by the sum of its digits. Harshad in Sanskrit means ‘joy-giver’.

Religions:
Hinduism: The names of Hindu Deities = 108.
Early Hinduism: The Last part of Vedas called to Upanishads are said to traditionally 108 Upanishads.
Lankavatara Sutra ancient teachings refers repeatedly to many temples with 108 steps.
Tibetan Buddhism: it is believed that there are 108 sins.
Islam: 108 is used to refer to God.
Jain: there are 108 virtues
Zen priests wear prayer beads called Juzu on the wrist, Juzu has 108 beads.
Buddhaism/Japan: A bell is chimed 108 times to celebrate the new year.

Astronomy:
The distance between the Earth and Sun is 108 times the diameter of the Sun.
The diameter of the Sun is 108 times the diameter of the Earth.
The distance between the Earth and Moon is 108 times the diameter of the Moon.

These were calculated in ancient India and they have be verified by modern calculations to be very accurate.

Astrology:
There are 12 constellation and 9 arc segments. 9 times 12 equals 108.
The metal silver represents the moon in astrology. The atomic weight of silver is 108.

Geography:
River Ganga: The sacred river in India, River Ganga spans a longitude of 12 degrees and a latitude of 9 degrees. 12 times 9 = 108.

Martial Arts:
According to Chinese and Indian Martial Arts: Marma Adi and Ayurveda, there are 108 pressure points in a human body.

Other:

There are said to be 108 earthly desires in mortals, 108 lies humans tell and 108 human delusions.

There are said to be 108 types of meditation.

Some say there are 108 paths to God.

Indian traditions have 108 dance forms.

The first manned space flight by Yuri Gagarin lasted 108 minutes – April 1961.

The highest broadcast band of FM radio is 108.0.

1-0-8 is the emergency telephone number in India (such as 911 in U.S.)

Modern TV reference:
Lost – TV series lost used many references to the number 108. For example, the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 equal 108. The numbers had to be re-entered every 108 minutes in to the computer at the dharma station. The time the six Oceanic flight survivors “The Oceanic 6 spent on the island as 108.

It may have been possible that the origins of the significance of 108 stem from the ancient Indian astronomy but this is with no certainty. The origins of 108 as a sacred number seem to remain hidden, for now anyway, unless new discoveries are made of ancient texts that shed light to the significance of 108.

INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Indian Mythology is one of the richest elements of Indian Culture, which enriches it further and makes it a unique one in the world. Through generations, different stories in Indian mythology have been passed from generation to generation either by word of mouth or through carefully stored scriptures.

It is our endeavour to bring forth the different elements of Indian mythology by a myriad of articles and stories which not only make educational reading but also make a good source of recreational reading. These stories, which form the backbone of Indian mythology, area great medium for people especially parents to inculcate interest in Indian Culture in the younger generation and to impart values of Indian culture to them. The interesting aspect of the stories in Indian Mythology, is that they are usually meant to convey subtle facts, rules and maxims to guide our daily lives. Who doesn't enjoy a well written story? Naturally story-telling is the best medium for conveying even powerful messages. The stories in Indian mythology vary from subtle maxim conveying tales of Panchatantra and Jataka-tales to subtle life paradigm defining stories from the Bhagvad-Gita, Ramayana and Mahabharata. A key point to note is that there are usually multiple stories explaining the same fact or occasion or festival. So each version is
right in its own merit. This is a result of the natural evolution the stories might have gone in the process of being handed over from generation to generation for centuries.