tial divine
manifestation in one who is permeated by the influence of the Supreme,
or of some other being who practically dominates the individual, the Ego
who is thus permeated.

Now what are the occasions which lead to these great manifestations?
None can speak with mightier authority on this point than He who came
Himself as an Avatara just before the beginning of our own age, the
Divine Lord Shri Krishna Himself. Turn to that marvellous poem,
the _Bhagavad-Gita_, to the fourth Adhyaya, Shlokas 7 and 8; there He
tells us what draws Him forth to birth into His world in the manifested
form of the Supreme:

[Sanskrit:

yadA yadAhidharmasya GlAnirBavati BArata |

aByutthAnamadharmasya tadAtmAnaM sRujAmyaham ||

paritrANAya sAdhUnAm vinAsAyacaduShkRutAm ||

dharmasaMsdhApanArthAya saMBavAmi yuge yuge ||]

"When Dharma,--righteousness, law--decays, when
Adharma--unrighteousness, lawlessness--is exalted, then I Myself come
forth: for the protection of the good, for the destruction of the evil,
for the establishing firmly of Dharma, I am born from age to age." That
is what He tells us of the coming forth of the Avatara. That is, the
needs of His world call upon Him to manifest Himself in His divine
power; and we know from other of His sayings that in addition to those
which deal with the human needs, there are certain kosmic necessities
which in the earlier ages of the world's story called forth special
manifestations. When in the great wheel of evolution another turn round
has to be given, when some new form, new type of life is coming forth,
then also the Supreme reveals Himself, embodying the type which thus He
initiates in His kosmos, and in this way turning that everlasting wheel
which He comes forth as I'shvara to turn. Such then, speaking quite
generally, the meaning of the word, and the object of the coming.

From that we may fitly turn to the more special question, "What is an
Avatara?" And it is here that I must ask your close attention, nay, your
patient consideration, where points that to some extent may be
unfamiliar are laid before you; for as I said, it is the occult view of
the truth which I am going to partially unveil, and those who have not
thus studied truth need to think carefully ere they reject, need to
consider long ere they refuse. We shall see as we try to answer the
question how far the great authorities help us to understand, and how
far the lack of knowledge in reading those authorities