E@zyVG’s Vichar::World Connected

We all know what avatar is …. don’t we. But, in real, a lot of people don’t know what and from where the word “avatar” came from, which today is used as synonym for icon or graphical representation of yourself, or a user, in a shared virtual reality, such as internet and video games.

Avatara (“descent”), in Hinduism

19th century Indian painting depicting the ten avatars of Lord Vishnu: Fish (Matsya), Tortoise (Kurma), Boar (Varaha), Man-Lion (Narasimha), Dwarf (Vamana), Rama with the Ax (Parasurama), King Rama, Krishna, Buddha, and Kalki

In Hindu philosophy, an avatar (also spelled as avatara) (Sanskrit: अवतार, avatāra), most commonly refers to the incarnation (bodily manifestation) of a higher being (deva), or the Supreme Being (God) onto planet Earth, and is an important concept within Hinduism, particularly the Vaishnavite tradition (which worships Vishnu as the supreme god). Basically, in Hinduism, a god made visibly present, a deity in human or animal form to counteract some particular evil in the world. The term usually refers to 10 appearances of Vishnu. For example the Buddha is considered an avatar of the god Vishnu. The word has also been used by extension to refer to the incarnations of God or highly influential teachers in other religions, especially by adherents to dharmic traditions when explaining figures such as Jesus. Often translated in English and used by its Christian equivalent as incarnation, the words have somewhat different connotations.

After a careful study of Indian religion, one contemporary Christian theologian found twelve basic characteristics in the avatar doctrines:

1. in Hindu belief the avatar is real, a visible and fleshly descent of the divine to the terrestrial plane
2. the human avatars are born in various ways but always through human parents
3. their lives mingle divine and human qualities
4. the avatars finally die
5. there may be a historical basis for some of the Hindu avatars Rama, Krishna, Chaitanya, Ramakrishna, for example
6. avatars are repeated: one appears whenever there is a catastrophic decline in righteousness
7. one avatar differs from another in character, temperament and worth
8. each comes with work to do: the restoration of harmony in human society and universe
9. avatars are not world-renouncing, and constantly advocate the importance of action rather than contemplation alone
10. avatars for Hindus provide “special revelation” as the self- manifestation of Godhead
11. they reveal a personal rather than impersonal God
12. avatars prove the existence of a God of grace, in Hindu eyes; as Ramanuja insisted, a man cannot maintain his existence without God and God cannot maintain Himself without man.”

- By Dr. Young Oon Kim (World Religions, Vol. 2)

So, now you know the word avatar originated from, and little more … just in case you didn’t know.

As most users on the internet, especially those that hang around different forums, use instant messengers, are into blogging and to some extent that use services such as Gravatar (idea of globally-recognized avatar), I also use an icon representation of myself, i.e. my avatar. For a long time, guess for past 3-4 years, I have been using the following avatar for myself:

As you can guess from the above pic, it is Williams-BMW Formual 1 car with AMD Athlon64 logo, using some colour effects. This avatar has become old, and I decided to go for another one, a new one, that will stay there for the near future. And here is what I came up with:

If you compare the two, they are quite different, though two common themes still prevail. Can you guess from the above pic what is it ……. 3,2,1 …. nops. OK, then let me explain you. The above is what you will find on a F1 2008 ForceIndia team car, it is the logo …. yes, again Formula1. Other than that you will also find a pic of a micro-processor die, in this case it being a Phenom X4 Agena die, just above my nick name … yes, AMD again. So I get a beautiful representation of Indian flag, in a silhouette of an eye, which I love; a piece of that tech, that I can’t live without; and a big fat number 1 which is always cool. Therefore:

Indian Flag + number 1 = nice F1 team logo in red + (Agena die + my nick + glassy look) = my new avatar

And I find it cool. I am no graphics designer, hence the simplicity :)

Geek fact: There are quite a few Unix computers on which the name of the superuser account is “avatar” rather than “root”. This quirk was originated by a CMU hacker who disliked the term “superuser”, and was propagated through an ex-CMU hacker at Tektronix.

I still wonder, why avatar, why not use the more familiar Western word, such as the Latin “incarnatus”, meaning “made flesh”? To expand further, ‘atman’ (Hindi) - soul remains same, though manifestations vary. Maybe the use of word ‘avatar’ had a deliberate intent, as the word implies a certain relationship between the “real” and the “virtual” world. Now to updating all those forum and messenger profiles and of course the Gravatar.

Yadaa Yadaa hi Dharmasya
Glanirbhavati Bharata
Abhyuttanam Adharmasya
Tadaatmaanam Srujamyaham
Paritranaya Sadhunaam
Vinaashaya ch Dushkritaam
Dharmasansthapanarthaya
Sambhavami Yuge Yuge

Whenever Dharma, or the situation of law and order, is endangered on this world, I incarnate onto this world to re establish Dharma (law and order), and to protect the Sadhus (saints) and to destroy the evil elements of the society.

-Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 at 4:32 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.