Is it acceptable to worship different avatars of Godhead, such as Rama, Narasimha, Matsya etc, or is Krishna the only deity we are permitted to worship?
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Is it acceptable to worship different avatars of Godhead, such as Rama, Narasimha, Matsya etc, or is Krishna the only deity we are permitted to worship?
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पूर्णोपूर्णावतारश्च श्यामोरामोरघूत्तमः ।
अंशानृसिंहकृष्णाद्याः राघवोभगवान्स्वयम् ॥
(इति ब्रह्म संहिता)
जो श्याम वर्ण के श्रीराम है वे रघुश्रेष्ठ एवं परिपूर्ण हैं। श्रीराम स्वयं भगवान है, जिनके अंश मात्र से नरसिंह, कृष्ण आदि सब प्रकट होते हैं।
Hare Krsna
Is it acceptable to worship different avatars of Godhead, such as Rama, Narasimha, Matsya etc ?
Yes
Hare Krishna Prabhu ji,
You can worship any form of Lord be it Rama, Narsimha or Matsya. How you are related to them matters. I mean the bhava ( emotional connection) with a perticular form of Lord matters.
Rama is viewed by all are Uttama Purushah or Purushottama.( foremost among all men esp. when it comes to practice of dharma). He can even sacrifice everything for the sake of Dharma). The righeous and most virtuous of all men. If you are attracted these qualities of Lord Rama then you can worship HIM and bow down to HIM. Lord Rama is worthy of worship, praise. One can form Dasya bhakti ( like an emotion of a servant when worshipping Lord Rama). As He is respectable, He was a King in Treta Yuga and He was worshipped by all citizen because of His great kind behavior. Though He was a God. He showed How to live a perfected HUMAN LIFE. He sets an example to all for us to follow. That is why with Lord Rama you can be a follower, or be a servant position. You could be a friend to Him or be a Brotherly relationship you can form with Lord Rama. But mostly anyone who admires Lord Rama are automatically devoted to Lord Hanuman as. Lord Hanuman is highest in dasya bhakti ( servitude relationship Bhakti). With Lord Rama you cannot form a prema or madhurya bhava or ( loving relationship).
Coming to Lord Narasimha.. It is like He is slayer of the demons. He creates shivers in the spines of the non devotees. Those you love this nature of Lord and this quality of Lord are usually attracted to this form.
You see. .. Lord has many angles. Lord is most smooth ( like a butter) to His devotees and Most ferocious like Narsimha with non devotees and demons. If one is fearing some threat in life and want to seek help Lord Narsimha helps them out of most dangerous circumstances even pulls them out of the jaws of death. Not all are attracted to the ferocious form. If you are finding affection and love for this form like how Prahalad formed attachment to this form. Lord accepts that bhakti also. Prahalada was a small kid when Lord came down as Narsimha. He was very fierce but Prahalada wasn't afraid of facing this form of Lord and he knew that Lord is a savior. This form of Lord makes you meek and humble to accept a devotee position and surrender to Lord thinking Lord is fierce. You surrender to a something which is immense in strength don't you? That is the position of the devotee in when we worship this form of Lord. But in this form you cannot form loving relationship with Lord.
Matsya avatara This form of Lord established dharma and restored the Vedas back into coustody of Brahma which was stolen by a demon. The avatar came into being only for this sake. This avatar came into being when Brahma goes into sleep ( night time of Brahma) when there was full deluge and everything flooded and world came to an end. During that time a demon saw brahma was sleeping and stole the Vedas. This avatara is Fish form a huge fish which had a horn on the snout. IT took all the species of each animal, plant and human being the sapta rishis' and saved them to start next new cycle of life during Braham's day again., and restored back the Vedas to Brahma by slaying the demon. This avatara signifies the savior avatara. The one who saved the universe and restored the dharma. Now this avatara also you can maximum form a feeling of devotee psotion or sevak position. You can bow down to the greatness of Lord and accept humble position by surrendering. But can you form brotherly, sisterly, motherly, fatherly, wife or lover feelings with this form of Lord? No you cannot. It is a Huge Fish gigantic fish a Savior of the mankind.
Only with Lord Sri Krishna one can form so many relationships .. One can feel bhakta position with Lord Sri krishna ( dasya bhava servant position), one can form, sakhya bhava ( friendly position), one can form Vatsalya Bhava ( like being father or mother to Lord position). One can form Shanta bhava ( see Lord as impersonal form Virat swaroopa as shown to Arjuna in Kurkshetra)or impersonal Parabrahman form ( like What Uddhava saw) or localized Paramatman bhava present in all jivas as supersol. Or one can form a Prema bhava or Madhurya Bhava loving relationship like how gopis' felt for Lord. Now this bhava is unique to only Lord Sri Krishna. This is not easy with other avatars. That is why Lord Sri Krishna is called Supereme Personality of Godhead. He is Paripoorna avatari. The form of Lord enchants whole universe. He is all attractive. You see how a magnet attracts like that. No one can get themselves to focus on something else when their eyes fall of this form. You cannot turn your gaze on any other form once you get attracted to this form of Lord. That is what " Krishna" means. He is a cynosure. :-) Of course Lord Rama is also Pleasure giving to the soul. He is also beautiful and attractive but the thing is Lord Krishna has a magnetic charm and anyone can fall for for HIM. You see so many woman got mad for HIM not only woman. Sages also turned into gopis even Lord Shiva became a gopi to get to dance with Lord Sri Krishna on the night of Rasaleela. You can understand how manganimous must be the Supereme Personality of Godhead. And unlike Lord Rama who is eka patni vrata ( one who sticks to only one wife and follows dharma perfectly) Lord Krishna can break any rules or dhama for the sake of His devotee. One who makes Dharma can break it also. That is how Lord Sri Krishna is for the sake of His devotees He can bend all rules also. He is not rigid. That makes His more approachable isn't it?
Hare Krishna.
Thank you for your thorough reply! This clears up a lot for me. I will continue to pray for guidance on my journey to the Lord.
Hare Krishna!