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Can we treat a person doing good work as a temporary incarnation of God?

[Ms. Thrylokya asked: Generally, we feel that if some good work is done by a soul, we say that God has done the work through that soul. In such a case, can we treat such a person as a temporary incarnation of God?]

Swami replied:- Avesha avataara means that God merges temporarily with a selected devotee to do a work as in the case of Parashurama. When a good person does good work, God’s power helps that person so that the good work is completed successfully. Both these cases are quite different. The latter cannot be called as incarnation like Parashurama. Incarnation is completely by the will of God only and not by the will of any devotee. Such will to become incarnation disqualifies the soul permanently. When a good soul does good work, it prays to God to help it in successfully finishing the good work and God obliges it and helps. In the case of an incarnation, the devotee never prays to God to become an incarnation. The devotee always likes to be the servant of God and not to become God. In one way, God forces the devotee to become the incarnation for the sake of some good welfare work. The devotee also realizes the aim of God and accepts to become an incarnation to do God’s work. Even after becoming an incarnation, the devotee feels that he is always the servant of God only.

When Rama was praised by the sages as incarnation of God, Rama told that He was just a human being called as Rama, born to King Dasaradha (Ātmānaṃ mānuṣam…). Since ego never entered Rama, He remained as a complete incarnation (Purnaavataara) throughout His life because God never left Rama. Since Parashurama thought that He was God after God’s work (killing all the evil kings), God left Him as soon as the work was over and He was insulted in the hands of Rama. If this is the story of the real incarnation, what to speak about people having fascination to become incarnation and to be recognized as incarnation in public! Among such people, the case of the Advaita philosopher is much pitiable, who always craves that he is already God!!

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