AVATAR 9

The Avatar descends on Earth for his terrestrial play with his entourage. He has a mighty mission to fulfil, the regeneration of humanity along spiritual lines at a time when human society has reached its nadir in terms of moral decadence, when vice reigns over virtue and when all that is good and holy has been forsaken for the ill-begotten fruits of desire. At such a time when human values are eroded the Avatar descends on Earth out of his unconditional mercy for fallen man that he may once more regain his lost paradise, the kingdom of heaven which is in his heart, that he may hearken to the call of the Divine from deep inside him and so reestablish the sovereignty of the Self and free himself from the material trappings of Maya.

But the Word must be spread. And to disseminate the message of the Master his apostles descend to Earth too, they who are his eternal companions, the carriers of his charge from age to age. These playmates of the Lord are free souls who assume human limitation for the while to participate in the divine drama of the Avatar and once their earthly mission is fulfilled, they return to their own abode, their spiritual plane.

These apostles are numbered and each one plays an assigned role in the divine play of the Master. There are the link between the Avatar and man as the Avatar is quite often beyond the comprehension of ordinary human beings so sublimely subtle are his ways and means, so ethereal his realisations and pronouncements. But the apostles are privy to the Master's thoughts in a fair measure and, thus, serve as the connecting link, the liaison between the Master and the masses.

The apostles are the extension of the Avatar, his flesh and blood, a part of his being, the very fabric of his soul. Theirs is the continuation of his divine saga as they reinforce his spiritual vibrations and initiate the masses into his divine fold. They are, thus, the Jagatgurus (World-teachers). They receive power from the Master to free people from bondage and, as such, are venerated as Aadhikaarik Purush (specially empowered beings). Some of these apostles are eternally free souls while some others have acquired freedom in an earlier birth and have now come to help in the divine play of the Master.