Similarly too, the two AVATARS, RAMA and KRISHNA were similarly prophesised in the ancient Indian culture in the Hindu tradition.
They were an eagerly awaited phenomenon.
Lord Krishna’s birth and life were filled replete with miracles.
An Avatar teaches in two ways.
Firstly His life itself is a teaching.
This was especially so of RAMA AVATAR.
That was the main purport of RAMA AVATAR.
How to live an exemplary life based on Dharma.
Was He an Avatar?
In the Indian Hindu system, He was not prophesised so.
Rightly so.
WHY?
Because His Mission was different.
Soon after Buddha’s teaching, and also after the advent of Emperor Ashoka, Buddhism took its roots in India and flourished as the religion of the people.
Buddhist monasteries were opened in India.
The nett result was, BRAHMIN PAGANISM was on the wane and declined.
This REFORMATION lasted for a thousand years.
Furthermore Lord Buddha synthesised the ancient mystic wisdom of ancient India, and gave it a NEW FORMAT.
He de-mystified it, and gave a simple direct teaching, bereft of Metaphysics.
This was His primary mission.
MESSIAH is the corresponding term for an AVATAR.
Messiah means, one who is ANOINTED by God.
ANOINTED means, one who is anointed with the HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD, which empowers him with holy wisdom and holy powers to fulfil his holy mission on planet Earth.
He openly declares it so, and says “I came from my Father”.
The compendium of Hindu scriptures with its accompanying literature is a veritable jungle of knowledge.
Finding one’s way and bearings through a jungle can be a difficult and tricky process.
One can invariably get lost on the way.
Especially when a mass of irrelevant material is contained in it.
This situation paved the way for the next AVATAR to descend.
Thus Buddha arrived on the scene to purge the Hindu structure of the dross accumulated over centuries of priest-craft.
He too, like Krishna, brought out and projected the essential features necessary for man’s Salvation, and presented a new format.
This format was simple, direct, uncomplicated and free of metaphysics.
Then, to sum up the section on AVATARS;
It could be said that Krishna propounded the science or the spiritual science of the mystic wisdom-knowledge needful for man’s Salvation in THEORY and PRACTICE.
Thus he projected the needful understanding which is necessary to lead a spiritual life.
If one proceeds in any pursuit, one cannot successfully do so without a proper knowledge.
This understanding and knowledge was given by Krishna in his teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.
Once the right knowledge and understanding is obtained, then one should make the requisite self-effort.
Thereafter the Grace of God transpires to effect and complete the whole process towards Salvation.
RIGHT UNDERSTANDING, RIGHT SELF-EFFORT and GRACE is the triple means which completes the whole process.
And the three Avatars or Messiahs came to project and fulfil this purpose in their lives and teachings.