Vamana : son of Kashyapa & Adīti, he was the Dwarf-Incarnation of Vishnu. Bali, the most outstanding king of Asūras, had by his Tapasyā acquired dominion of all the three worlds. To remedy this, Vishnu came to him in the form of a child-mendicant requested as alms as much land as he could step over in three paces (see Bali)
... evolution and so appearing from age to age, yuge yuge ? In some such spirit some would interpret the ten incarnations of Vishnu, first in animal forms, then in the animal man, then in the dwarf man-soul, Vamana, the violent Asuric man, Rama of the axe, the divinely-natured man, a greater Rama, the awakened spiritual man, Buddha, and, preceding him in time, but final in place, the complete divine manhood,... previous Vishnu Avatars, of Rama to destroy the unrighteous oppression of Ravana, of Parashurama to destroy the unrighteous license of the military and princely caste, the Kshatriyas, of the dwarf Vamana to destroy the rule of the Titan Bali. But obviously the purely practical, ethical or social and political mission of the Avatar which is thus thrown in popular and mythical form, does not give a right ...
... of the ten Avatars. Vishnu the Supreme Godhead makes a progressive series of incarnations, so that — to take for our immediate purpose the human portion of the traditional sequence — He who was Vamana (the Dwarf Avatar, the Divine in the primitive and mainly physical human stage) becomes afterwards ParasuRama ("Rama of the Axe", the Divine in the kinetic or vitalistic phase of humanity) and then... And yet there is another side to the medal, equally stamped with the Gita and Sri Aurobindo. It is true that Krishna does not name for himself any specific past life — Rama, Parasu-Rama, Vamana or any other ¹ Sri Aurobindo on Himself and on the Mother , p. 209. Page 55 — as a manifestation of Avatarhood. But he definitely mentions a chain of his own past ...
... of evolution. First the Fish Avatar, then the amphibious animal [Tortoise] between land and water, then the land animal [Boar], then the Man-Lion Avatar, bridging man and animal, then man as dwarf [Vamana], small and undeveloped and physical but containing in himself the godhead and taking possession of existence, then the rajasic [Parasurama], sattwic [Rama], nirguna Avatars, leading the human development ...
... don’t see the like any more. It was a large dome-like affair made of palm leaves and bamboo strips, no closing or opening, always open. The handle too was bamboo. (We see pictures of our ancients, like Vamana Avatar, using this model.) He looked all of a Tantric of a couple of centuries back, who had stepped into our lives. He was a tantric in his previous life and he continued to be so this time — a worshipper ...
... evolution and so appearing from age to age, yuge yuge ? In some such spirit some would interpret the ten incarnations of Vishnu, first in animal forms, then in the animal man, then in the dwarf man-soul, Vamana, the violent Asuric man, Rama of the axe, the divinely-natured man, a greater Rama, the awakened spiritual man, Buddha, and, preceding him in time, but final in place, the complete divine manhood, ...
... previous Vishnu avatars, of Rama to destroy the unrighteous oppression of Ravana, of Parashurama to destroy the unrighteous license of the military and princely caste, the Kshatriyas, of the dwarf Vamana to destroy the rule of the Titan Bali. But obviously the purely practical, ethical or social and political mission of the Avatar which is thus thrown into popular and mythical form, does not give a ...
... that is to say, human beings are small, small and weak in the body and in the inner make-up. But the Divine took pity on us and to be with us became himself small and perhaps apparently weak also (Vamana) to be human with us. In other ages, even in the Satya Yuga, the age of Truth, God, the Divine was very far from earth, away and aloof from the material universe (which was Illusion, Maya). Therefore ...
... and knowledge. Rig Veda. (14) "The divine-Dwarf towered to unconquered worlds". Sāvitrī, Book I, Canto 3. (14) The "Dwarf" here brings to our mind the Vamana—"The divine Dwarf", an incarnation of Vishnu who measured the three worlds—the material, the vital and the mental—in his three steps. In die Rig Veda there is a symbolic reference to this which ...
Share your feedback. Help us improve. Or ask a question.