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A casual look at Vinayaka’s form may lead one to think, ‘How foolish to worship someone with an elephant face!’ But Vinayaka is the representation of completeness. He is a very handsome Lord. The elephant form you are familiar with, manifested itself to subdue the asuras, who were wreaking havoc on the world. The Vinayaka of the present is in a form similar to Muruga. You may not believe me when I say this; you may want some proof.
In days of yore, the inhabitants of Lemuria were giant sized like the asuras. When there was a necessity to conquer the asuras, the divine forms that manifested had to take on giant sized forms.
For instance, to subdue Gajamukhasura (elephant faced demon), a divine form resembling an elephant was required. That is why the earlier manifestations of Divinity were all in some animal form.
The human race did not evolve by civilization, it evolved by transitioning gradually from some form of a reptile to beast to the sophistication of a human being. That is why you have the fish(Matsya), turtle (Kurma), wild boar (Varaha), then half man half lion (Narasimha), then a dwarf form (Vamana), then a wild man (Parasurama), then evolved into a human form, an epitome of peacefulness, attempting to establish justice in the world. Rama was not conscious that He was a Divine incarnation - - it was the Rishis who made Him aware of that during the course of His life. Even Anjaneya regained awareness of His prowess at the instance of Jambavan. Till the days of Ramayana, the characters were not aware of their inherent powers; evolution was not complete. That is why you had bears and monkeys co-existing with human beings. That was the transition stage.
It is only in the days of Krishna that evolution reached completion. All characters in that yuga were in human form. When the state of completeness was achieved, it led to the evolution called Krishna - - perhaps we can label it that way. Just like a product manufactured in a factory undergoes various processes which are fine-tuned over the years and therefore a contemporary product will be more evolved than a product of yesteryears.
But those who have a rational approach do not approach this as history or puranic episodes. Medical Science has conducted researches to study the foetus and its growth, and has recorded its evolution at various stages and has proved that the position of the child in the womb initially resembles a fish, then a turtle etc. So the evolution of a child is equivalent to the Dasavatara we are familiar with, and this has been rationally proved with photos and illustrations.
Whatever Divine form we are familiar with, that is the divine form we worship.
( Baba's
replies to other questions continues
next week....)
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