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A Series of Lessons on the Inner Teachings of the Philosophies and Religions of India1318
held to dwell in the highest heavens; which he rules. His image in this aspect
appears in the temples, blue or black in color. But there is another and far
more important personal aspect of Vishnu, and one that causes him to be
so popular among the Hindu people—his aspect as the various avatars or
incarnations in human form.
While the term Vaishnava is strictly applied to all worshipers of Vishnu,
still it is generally restricted to those sects which worship him in the form of
either of his two chief incarnations, viz., Rama or Krishna, more particularly
the latter, and which comprise the great majority of the Vishnu worshipers,
those who worship him either in his general personal aspect, or his general
personal aspect as the Lord of the Heavens, being few as compared with
those who worship him in his avatars. These avatars or human incarnations
were for the purpose of regenerating the race, and lifting it up from the
mud of materiality. There are promised other avatars, from time to time, as
they are needed. The Bhagavad-Gita promise, which is held sacred by the
Vaishnavas, says: “Although I am above birth and rebirth, or Law, being the
Lord of all there is, for all emanateth from me—still do I will to appear in my
own universe, and am therefore born so by my Power and Thought, and
Will.…Whenever the world declineth in virtue and righteousness; and vice
and injustice mount the throne—then come I, the Lord, and revisit my world
in visible form, and mingle with men, and by my influence and teachings
do I destroy the evil and injustice, and reestablish virtue and righteousness.
Many are the times that I have thus appeared—many are the times hereafter
when I shall come again.” (Bhagavad-Gita, part IV.)
The Rama Avatar.
The first great avatar which is dear to the Vaishnavas is the seventh, in
which Vishnu incarnated as Rama-Chandra, or Rama, the hero of the Hindu
epic, the Ramayana. Rama was the son of King Dasaratha of Ayodhya, and
whose youth was marked with wondrous performances. He married the
beautiful princess Sita (whose memory is revered by all Hindu women, to