Incarnations of Vishnu
Lord Vishnu appeared as Vamana, a dwarf Brahmin and went to the sacrifice that Bali Maharaja, the grandson of Prahlada Maharaja, was performing.He begged three steps of land from Maharaja Bali. As it is the duty of a king to give charity to the Brah ins, Maharaja Bali replied, 'Why take so little? I can give you much more than that." Lord Vamana replied "O my dear King, even the entirety of whatever there may be within the three worlds to satisfy one's senses cannot satisfy a person whose senses are uncontrolled. One should be satisfied with whatever he achieves by his previous destiny, for discontent can never bring happiness.
A person who is not self-controlled will not be happy even with possessing the three worlds." Vamana then expanded His body to take up the earth and all the heavens in His first two steps. There was nothing left for Bali Maharaja to give for the third step, so he offered his head. After taking everything from him, Lord Vamana then made Bali the king of the underworld. Vamana holds a water-pot in one hand and an umbrella in the other. He wears either a loincloth or deer skin. He is also called Trivikrama. Tri means three, and vikrama means victory. Lord Vishnu, as Vamana, is seen stretching His leg to take a step.
Parusurama
He is seen in a human form holding a battle axe in one hand. Sometimes he is seen with four hands carrying a sword, axe, bow, and arrows. Parasurama was born as a Brahmin,but he acted like a ksatriya. There are just a few temples dedicated to Parasurama in India. One time the powerful ksatriya king Kartaviryarjuna stole Parasurama's father's Kamadhenu cow. Parasurama then killed the king to get the cow back. Afier killing the king, Parasurama's father, Jamadagni, told him that killing a king is sinful and that as a Brahmin he should have tolerated the offense. Jamadagni advised Parasurama to atone for his sin by traveling to various holy places. While Parasurama was traveling, the king's sons killed Jamadagni to get revenge. Parasurama then killed the ksatriya race twenty-one times to avenge the killing of his father.
Lord Rama
He is also known as Raghunath and Ramachandra He is the hero in the famous story, the Ramayana. Rama is the husband of Sita. The Lord appeared in His full quadruple expansions as the four brothers: Rama, Laksmana, Bharata, and Satrughna. He appeared in Ayodhya as the son of King Dasaratha. If you see Lord Rama on an altar, many times He will be with His consort, Sita, His brother Laksmana, and His monkey servant Hanuman. His father, Maharaja Dasaratha, had three wives. From these three wives Maharaja Dasaratha had four sons. One of his wives, Kaikeyi, served Dasaratha very nicely and received a benediction from him. She said she would ask for the benediction at another time. At the time of the coronation of Ramacandra, Kaikeyi asked her husband to enthrone her son Bharata and send Ramacandra to the forest for 14 years.
Maharaja Dasaratha ordered Ramachandra to go to the forest. Rama left everything without hesitation, just as a liberated soul or great yogi gives up his life without material attraction. He went to the forest with Laksmana and Sita. When Marica assumed the form of a golden dear, Lord Ramacandra wanted to capture the deer to please Sita. While He was trying to capture the deer, the ten-headed demon Ravana kidnapped Sita. As Rama and Laksmana were searching through the forest for Sita, they met the bird Jatayu who had tried to stop Ravana from kidnapping Sita. Rama then killed the monkey Vali and made friendship with Sugriva, the monkey king. The monkeys were sent out to find Sita. Hanuman, the eternal servant of the Lord, was able to find Sita at Ravana's capital, Lanka. Hanuman jumped across the sea, but when Lord Ramachandra came with the monkey army they made a bridge with rocks that floated on the water so they could get to Lanka from the coast of India. This happened at Rameswararn. With the help of Laksmana and the monkey army, Rama was able to kill all of Ravana's army. He then personally killed Ravana. Lord Rama then crowned Vibhisana, Ravana's brother, the king of Lanka, as Vibhisana had surrendered to Rama and helped defeat Ravana. Rama then returned to his kingdom in Ayodhya and was enthroned as King. |
