Vaiṣṇavism and Avatāravāda

Since one of the purposes of starting this page was to post critiques of different religious aspects of Hinduism as well. So This is something I wanted to write about for a while.

Avatāravāda, i.e. the doctorine of incarnation.

No other religious group uses it as extensively as the as the Vaiṣṇavas. In Vaiṣṇavism almost everyone is an incarnation of either Viṣṇu or some other god, sent by Viṣṇu. And other than that it has a long history of appropriating rivalling religious figures as incarnations into its canon.

The Bhāgvata Purāṇa lists 22 avatāras, the Pañcarātra lists atleast 39. Sikh Canon lists 24 avatāras of Viṣṇu.

Throughout its history Vaiṣṇavism has appropriated different personalities from different other traditions into its canon. Vaiṣṇavas even appropriated personalities from the Vedic corpus into its mythology.

Kapila of Sāṃkhya got Incorporated as Viṣṇu-incarnate in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa. The Ṛṣabhadeva Ādinātha of Jainism got co-opted as an incarnation of Viṣṇu in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa. Buddha got co-opted as an Avatāra. Rāma-Jamdagnya Ṛṣi in the vedas became a Viṣṇu-incarnate in the Vaiṣṇava canon. Matsya and Kūrma who are Avatāra of Prajāpati(Brahmā) in the Śatapathabrāhmaṇa, become incarnations of Viṣṇu in Vaiṣṇava Purāṇas.

As a result the narrative of those schools/ personality as an independent unit, became completely subsumed into Vaiṣṇava propaganda.

Now people don’t remember Kapila as the great rationalist and philosopher from Axial age, but as a legendary sage from the mythological origins of the Ganges. Sāṃkhya, once a prominent school philosophy, infact the most influential school of thought on Indian/Hindu philosophy, is now reduced to just an auxillary discipline. Most people don’t even know about Sāṃkhya. And the worst part is, those who do , mostly know it from the Bhāgavatam, which superimposes bhakti & theism onto it. People (in India) don’t talk about Buddha as the great unconventional speaker, but he’s now just another Līlā of Viṣṇu. Buddhism is reduced to being considered a mere offshoot or branched off tradition. The information about Ṛṣabhanātha being a Jaina Tīrthaṃkara is unknown to almost everyone except Jains ofcourse and those interested in studying comparative mythology. Now when people talk about Rāma-Bhārgava , they don’t mean the Vedic Ṛṣi Rāma-Jamdagnya, but the wrathful Viṣṇu-incarnate, Brahmin warrior, Paraśurāma, who slaughtered Kṣatriyas.

Even the antagonists of Indian epics, Mahābhārata & Rāmāyaṇa have become avatāra.

Many scholars also say that even Rāma & Kṛṣṇa weren’t originally a Viṣṇu Avatāra. The Kṛṣṇa story we see today is an amalgamation of different legends including Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa of the ‘Vṛṣṇi PañcaVīra’ or ‘Vṛṣṇi Heroes’, Bālakṛṣṇa and Gopāla traditions. Even Nārāyaṇa & Viṣṇu were separate dieties as per several historians. The religion of Vaiṣṇavism is considered as a synthesis of the worship of gods Viṣṇu, Nārāyaṇa, Vāsudeva and Kṛṣṇa.

Even if we keep aside the appropriated incarnates, even from within the different sects of Vaiṣṇavism there is a whole plethora of incarnations.

I mean literally everyone is an incarnation.

• Rāmānuja of ŚrīVaiṣṇavism is an incarnation of Ādi Śeṣa/Saṅkarṣaṇa.
• Madhva of Dvaita sect is incarnation of Vāyu
• Nimbārka of Kumāra Sampradāya is incarnation of Sudarśana Chakra.
• Caitanya of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism is incarnation of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa combined.
• Vallabha of Rudra Sampradāya (Puṣṭimārga) is incarnation of Agní.
• Nityānanda or Nitāī(of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism) as incarnation of Balarāma?
• Advaita(of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism) as incarnation of Viṣṇu-Śiva combined.
• Gadādhara of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism is an incarnation of effulgence of Rādhā.
• Śrīvāsa is incarnation of Nārada.
• Tulasīdāsa is incarnation of Vālmīki, who’s incarnation of Brahmā.
• Kṛpālu is incarnation of Caitanya, who’s also an incarnation as mentioned above.
• Rāmananda is incarnation of Rāma.
• Mīrā Bāī is an incarnation of the Gopikā, that missed the Rāsa of Kṛṣṇa.
• The Āḻvārs also are incarnation of different figures from the Pantheon, like Äṇɖāḷ is an incarnation of Bhūmi.
• Rāmananda(Guru of Svāmīnārāyaṇa) is incarnation of Uddhava.
• Svāmīnārāyaṇa is incarnation of Nārāyaṇa or Kṛṣṇa.

These are just the main personalities that I’ve listed here, even the their supporting figures are also incarnation of some being or other, descended on earth to preach Viṣṇu-bhakti.

And how can we forget Ādi-Śaṅkara. Strange thing with him is that Vaiṣṇava abuse his thought day and night, but also want to somehow infer Vaiṣṇavism from him(kinda trying to seek his validation). Except the Madhva sect, almost all the sects of Vaiṣṇavism, consider Ādi-Śaṅkara as Śiva incarnate descended on earth at Viṣṇu’s behest to defeat buddhists and to delude demoniac minded people, a goal Ironically certain Vaiṣṇava sects believe to be of the the Buddha-avatāra as well. Madhvas directly consider him as a demon-incarnate.

At some places Buddha-avatāra and Ādi-Śaṅkara are mentioned to have incarnated to delude Daityas, by preaching false doctrines of Śūnyavāda.

Throughout the history these different sects, quarreled among themselves, and countered each others’ claims, but now in the modern age most of them recognise each other as valid in their own respective right. So now if we , conjoin the different Avatāra stories, then we get an absolutely absurd timeline..

First Kṛṣṇa comes and says to worship him only as the supreme god.

Then buddha comes to reject the existence of supreme creator god and vedas.

Then Viṣṇu sends Śiva as Ādi-Śaṅkara, to reject buddha, and establish vedanta and to brutally criticize bhakti & all the existent Bhakti traditions.

Then he sends Saṅkarṣaṇa as Rāmānuja to reject Ādi-Śaṅkara, and establish the first Vaiṣṇava Bhakti sect.

Then he sends Vāyu as madhva, to reject Ādi-Śaṅkara as well as Rāmānuja, and establish the exact opposite thought of that of Ādi-Śaṅkara and brutally criticize & abuse Ādi-Śaṅkara.

Then he sends Sudarśana as Nimbārka, and Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa come as Caitanya , each of them to establish mix-mash ups of both Ādi-Śaṅkara’s advaita and madhva’s dvaita; and few more bhakti sects and also to reject Ādi-Śaṅkara.

And in the meanwhile other incarnation are also send on earth to do Lord’s work.

Now if we take Kṛṣṇa centric sects, then it would be first Kṛṣṇa himself coming to establish his godhood, then Kṛṣṇa sends Viṣṇu as Buddha, to reject any godhood, and then all the subsequent incarnations of Kṛṣṇa would be the supreme lord himself coming as his own devotee to preach the message of his own devotion and glories.

If we take Rāma centric sects, then it would be Rāma sending Viṣṇu as Kṛṣṇa & Buddha for the aforementioned tasks and all the incarnations of Rāma to do the same for Rāma what Kṛṣṇa-incarnates did for Kṛṣṇa.

By adding all this up, Viṣṇu/Kṛṣṇa seem like some supreme god or some confused frickle minded kid, who constantly changes choices? And also he seems to be unsuccessful everytime, that’s why he had to send incarnation after incarnation to preach his message.

Also a manipulative diabolical evil entity, who purposefully deceits Daityas and Danavas, by supposedly giving them false doctrines, instead of guiding them towards piousness.

If Vaiṣṇavas were given enough time, maybe a century and a half, they would have co-opted the Sikh Gurus as well. Many already say that Guru nanak was a Viṣṇu bhakta. The neo cults like ISKCON even incorporate abrahamic prophets. ISKCON founder, prabhupada claimed that Jesus & Muhammad were śaktyāveśa avatāra of Viṣṇu, and spread Vaiṣṇavism only in another form.

Nowadays many Vaiṣṇavas alongwith Smārtas have come up with the theory of two-Buddhas, viz. the Viṣṇu incarnate Buddha and the Śākyamuni Buddha being two different personalities. But this claim holds no substance, and has only come into existence because of the Vaiṣṇava claim on Buddha is challenged by his otherwise popularity. That’s why no such thing has come up for Kapila and Ṛṣabhanātha. I’ll be debunking this theory in an upcoming article.

Now even Bauddhas, Jainas and Sikhs have appropriated several personalities from the Vaiṣṇava mythology, but their emphasis on them is not that significant,but the religion Vaiṣṇavism, unlike other Indian/Hindu religions like Śaivism, in practice thrives primarily on the miraculous tales of the Avatāras. If we remove that mythology from it, the very basis of Vaiṣṇava beliefs shatters into pieces.
Śāktism has also incorporated almost every folk goddess into its fold as incarnation of some Devī or other. But the difference is it has only legitimized their worship and saved them from the criticism of orthodox folk, while keeping their individuality and unique relation with the geography or group they are related intact, unlike what happens in Vaiṣṇavism, where the individuality is eclipsed by the glories of Viṣṇu.

Note:- This is a critique of Vaiṣṇavism, not Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa in the Mahābhārata is one of my favorite characters in the Indian epic literature of all-time. For my views on him do read my other blog/article on it , Kṛṣṇa of the Mahābhārata 

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