THE WORKING OF THE AVATAR

 
The Avatar draws upon Himself the universal suffering, but He is sustained under the stupendous burden by His infinite Bliss and His infinite sense of humour. The Avatar is the Axis or Pivot of the universe, the Pin of the grinding-stones of evolution, and so has a responsibility towards everyone and everything.

At each moment in time He is able to fulfill singly and together the innumerable aspects of His universal duty because His actions are in no way constrained by time and distance and the here and now of the senses.

While engaged in any particular action on the gross plane He is simultaneously working on all the inner planes. Unlike the actions of ordinary men, the Avatar's every action on the gross plane brings about numberless and far-reaching results on the different planes of consciousness. His working on the inner planes is effortless and continues of itself, but because of the very nature of grossness His work on the gross plane entails great exertion.

As a rule each action of an ordinary person is motivated by a solitary aim serving a solitary purpose; it can hit only one target at a time and bring about one specific result. But with the Avatar, He being the Centre of each one, any single action of His on the gross plane brings about a network of diverse results for people and objects everywhere.

The Avatar's action on the gross plane is like the throwing of a main switch in an electric power-house, which immediately and simultaneously releases an immense force through many circuits, putting into action various branches of service such as factories and fans, trains and trolleys and lighting for cities and villages.

An ordinary physical action of the Avatar releases immense forces in the inner planes and so becomes the starting point for a chain of working, the repercussions and overtones of which are manifest at all levels and are universal in range and effect.

Everything in the universe is, and from the beginning has been, a materialization of the divine Original Whim working out irrevocably without default, deflection or defeat. It is the unfolding upon the screen of consciousness of the film of creation, sequence after sequence, according to the pattern that issued from the Original Whim. However, when God as God-Man plays the role of Audience He can alter or erase at His avataric whim any thing or happening which was destined from the Original Whim. But the very arising of the avataric whim was inherent in the Original Whim.

The Sufis distinguish between Qaza or destined occurrences, and Qadar or happenings which are impulsive or 'accidental'. The Avatar's or Qutub's actions are impulsive and arise from their infinite compassion; and the functioning of this whim relieves and gives beauty and charm to what would otherwise be a rigid determinism.

The Qutub's actions bring about modifications in the previously determined divine Plan, but they are limited in extent. But the Avatar's interventions bring about modifications on a universal scale. For instance, supposing that it was divinely ordained for a war to occur in 1950. It must take place at the appointed time, and the train of events which follows will punctually meet the present time-table. However, if the Avatar is in the world at the time He might, in His exercise of Qadar, ward off the catastrophe by some particular action on the gross plane. And so in the relentless working out of the laws of Nature there can enter the inexplicable divine caprice, spelling out peace instead of war in the diary of man. Kabir has said:

Kabir rekha karam kee kabhee na meete Ram
Meetanhar samarth hai para samajh kiya hai kam.

O Kabir! The lines of fate are never effaced by
Rama; He is All-powerful and can undo destiny,
but He never does so for He has given full thought
to what He has planned.

The Avatar does not as a rule interfere with the working out of human destinies. He will do so only in times of grave necessity — when He deems it absolutely necessary from His all-encompassing point of view. For a single alteration in the planned and imprinted pattern in which each line and dot is interdependent, means a shaking up and a re-linking of an unending chain of possibilities and events. The least divergence from the pre-drawn line of Fate not only requires infinite adjustments within the immediate orbit of the individual concerned, but involves in its interminable repercussions all those connected by the bond of past sanskaras.

The avataric whim is also part of the divine Destiny. Qaza provides for the absolute necessity of the Avatar's 'chance' intervention, and the very unpredictability of this intervention is predicted in Qaza — for His infinite compassion, because of which His intervention occurs, may not be denied.

In the working out of the avataric whim there is not the least element of chance. The aim of the whim's action is perfect and its result is precise.

An ordinary person's whim, when expressed, may have consequences quite outside itself, as illustrated by the following story. A drunken man was passing by a wood-apple tree and had a whim to taste one of its fruits. As a rule a drunkard has a distaste for sour or tart things because they nullify the effects of drink, so this man's wanting a wood-apple was purely a whim, independent of thought or real desire. He picked up a stone and threw it at the tree. The stone missed any of the apples, killed a bird, scared away many others and fell on the head of a traveller resting beneath the tree. Thus the haphazard expression of the drunkard's whim not only failed to accomplish the whim but brought about results completely outside it. The whim was merely an unrelated fancy, and the action stemming from it had no connection with its object.

This sort of thing can never happen in the exercise of the Avatar's whim. Arising from compassion and expression of Perfection it is perfect in its aim and results.