Re: Importance of Dasavataar
The Dasavatara sequence is not orderly to warrant a reading of 'evolution'. Furthermore, the 'dasavatara' is just a list of the mukhya avataras by knowledgeable rishis for the purpose of upAsaNa. The avataras of sriman nArAyaNa are infinite. For that matter, the vyUhas are avataras, the 'para rUpam' is an avatarA, the antaryAmin is an avatAra and the forms in temples, archa are avatArAs. The 'Dasavatara' is part of the vibhava group of avatArA.
However, each of the dasavataras do have a signifiance wrt to their forms. For instance, Bhagavan appeared as a fish in matsya. The tAtparyam is this - the flood is samsArA and the fish represents bhagavAn, who alone has the fins, ie, the strength, to carry the jivA across samsArA. The fact that Manu and the rishis did nothing but allow themselves to be towed represents the secondary importance of self-effort in upAsaNa.
Similarly, the kUrma signifies the indriyAs, which when withdrawn just as the body of the turtle is withdrawn into the shell, can withstand the tApa-traya signified by the churning of the ocean with the mountain. The 4 legs and face of the turtle being withdrawn represent the 5 indriyAs, with the prAnA or manas (not sure which; gotta check srI parasara bhattar's commentaries) corresponding to the face of the turtle.
Krishna avatarA - The flute symbolises the acharya. The idea is that when Bhagavan says something, people cannot understand it, or the message does not appear sweet to them. But the acharya is like the flute that takes the words from the lips of bhagavan and converts it to something as sweet as the music coming out from the flute. The various holes in the flute are controlled by Krishna to produce specific sounds, which signifies that the acharyan only communicates whatever Bhagavan has truly instructed and does not convey anything of his own imagination.
And so on and so forth. There are such meanings for every avatAra. Both the literal and the symbolic are accepted as equally true, ie, Bhagavan took these forms for real, and at the same time did it purposely to impart a hidden meaning.
[CENTER][COLOR="Black"][COLOR="Red"][COLOR="DarkRed"]No holiness rules over my freedom
No commands from above I obey
I seek the ruin, I shake the worlds
Behold! I am blackest ov the black
Ov khaos I am, the disobediant one
Depraved son who hath dwelt in nothingness
Upon the ninth I fell, from grace up above
To taste this life ov sin, to give birth to the "I"[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]
[B]~ "Blackest Ov the Black" - Behemoth.[/B]
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P-JdwtK1DY[/url] [/CENTER]
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