A-AS Level (CIE) Hinduism: Specimen Questions with Answers 1 - 1 of 51

Question 1

Explanation

• We can՚t say that Krishna is more important avatar of Vishnu than Rama. But it is right that Krishna is known as ‘Purnavatara’ , which means ‘the complete one’ while Ram avatar is known as ‘Maryada purushottam’ .
• Ram avatar is all about “Rule of law” that which he follows rules and regulations, tradition and customs very strictly. He never deviated an inch from performing of his own duties. In the words of Swami Vivekananda, Rama is an embodiment of truth and morality, an ideal son, an ideal husband and above all an ideal king.
• When his younger Bharat was about to take charge as the king of Ayodhya, Ram gave a lot of instructions to him that he had to follow. It includes-protection of women and children, maintenance of ecology, tax reformation in trade and agriculture, subsidies that a king had to give to farmers, paying tribute to saints, athiests, poet, intellectuals and so on.
• As an ideal son, Rama never hesitates to obey orders of his father. He was ready to take charge as king of Ayodhya. And later he went for exile to fulfill his father՚s promises with the same mind.
• As an ideal student, Rama followed the advices and instructions of his Guru-Vasistha.
• As an ideal king, Rama conducted a fire test on his wife Sita and later abandoned same accused Sita in the mid forest. In today՚s context, an accused minister always tend to stick to the power till he/she proves one՚s own guilty. This shows that a ruler must be an ideal one who is beyond all accusations and doubts. And it՚s the duty of a ruler to prove one՚s own innocence and purity.
• While return back to Ayodhya, Rama requested sage Bharadwaja that he wants to see these paths filled up with fully fledged trees. This incident shows us the hidden nature worshiper that lies in Rama.
• By changing the form in night, Rama mingles with common people and discussed Vedas, Upanishads to make citizens responsible and moraly fit. He always used to enquire the where about of citizens and collected informations from various corners to make his own administration much more better as well as updated.
• From all these, we can understand that-Ram avatar shows traits of an able administrator.
• When it comes to the Krishnavatar, it՚s all about “Rule of justice” . From all of his deeds we can say that Krishanavatar was a liberal one compared to Ram avatar. According to him, its ok to cheat the cheater for the establishment of Dharma. As a charioteer in Mahabharata war, he motivates Arjuna to kill unarmed Karna, he named an elephant as Ashvattama and motivates Yudhishtira to declare Ashvattama dead.
• Despite being naughty-Krishna was always accompanied by cattle՚s, birds and animals, boys and girls, older persons. He always used to play the flute, he enjoys dancing and was an excellent prankster.
• He motivates everybody to worship the nature by uplifting the Govardhana Mountain by saving people from the wrath of Indra. He saved Kalindi River from getting poisoned by Kalindi snake.
• He too was an ideal student of sage Sandeepani and never failed to obey guru՚s orders.
• As an ideal Guru, Krishna clears all the doubts that arises in the mind of Arjuna. By keeping Arjuna in forefront, Krishna teaches us about Karma yoga, Bhakti yoga, Gyana yoga and shows the path of liberation. Among those, the most popular one was to perform one՚s own prescribed duty at its fullest potential even without thinking about the result.
• Solet us conclude that Ram avatar was like a normal human being with emotions and attachments whereas Krishnavatar was an advanced version of a human being who is highly spiritual with full detachment and enjoyment.