(Avatāra) An incarnation — literally “descent” in Sanskrit (from ava-tṝ, “cross over”) — of a divine being, usually written “avatar.” Thus Sri Krishna (“Kṛṣna”) is said to be an avatar of Viṣṇu (usually written “Vishnu”). Tsong-ka-pa, founder of the ...

Avatâra (Sk.) Divine incarnation. The descent of a god or some exalted Being, who has progressed beyond the necessity of Rebirths, into the body of a simple mortal. Krishna was an avatar of Vishnu. The Dalai Lama is regarded as an avatar of Avalokiteswara, and the Teschu Lama as one of ...

January 8, 2026 - The Sanskrit word “Avatar” ... “Theosophical Glossary” entry for “Avatara” simply defines it as “Divine incarnation....

In the Hindu religion an Avatara is a divine incarnation or the descent of God in a tangible form; thus the Sanskrit term Avesa Avatara might be interpreted as a special purpose Avatara where, according to the teaching, a pure person is used for a period by an influx of the Divine Life.

Theosophy accepts the principle of Avatara and has taken the concept beyond its Hindu roots.

In a series of four lectures delivered at the Theosophical Society at Adyar, Madras, in December 1899, Annie Besant (1847-1933 C.E.), the president of the society, combined Theosophical concepts with classic Vaishnavite ideas.[3] A decade later, her co-worker Charles Webster Leadbeater would claim that his young protégé Jiddu Krishnamurti was actually the avatar of a Cosmic Christ-like being called the Maitreya.

Yet I’ve long felt there was something paradoxical around the avatar concept, largely because in some of these accounts the avatar refers explicitly to having had numerous past lives. For instance, Krishna also says this to Arjuna: “Many, many births both you and I have passed.

The avatar concept was adapted by orientalising Western occultism, specifically Theosophy and Neo-Theosophy.

December 16, 2025 - Theosophist Helena Blavatsky also reiterated this in her 1877 opus Isis Unveiled. Bhaktivinoda Thakura proposed the following ordering of the Dashavataras: ... Kalki - the next step in evolution; yet to happen and the savior, and is like Christian Advent, which Madame Blavatsky believed Christians "undoubtedly copied from the Hindus" Blavatsky believed that the avatara-related Hindu texts were an allegorical presentation of Darwinian evolution.

In far past Kalpas, in worlds other than this, nay, in universes earlier than our own, those who were to be Avataras climbed slowly, step by step, the vast ladder of evolution, climbing from mineral to plant, from plant to animal, from animal to man, from man to Jivanmukta, from Jivanmukta higher and higher yet, up the mighty hierarchy that stretches beyond Those who have liberated Themselves from the bonds of humanity; until at last, thus climbing, They cast off not only all the limits of the separated Ego, not only burst asunder the limitations of the separated Self, but entered Ishvara Himself and expanded into the all-consciousness of the Lord, becoming one in knowledge as they had ever been one in essence with that eternal Life from which originally they came forth, living in that life, centres without circumferences, living centres, one with the Supreme.

The Secret Doctrine speaks of seven Buddhas that will appear on earth, five of whom have already manifested, while the last two will appear during the sixth and seventh root races. They are technically referred to as Manushya-Buddhas or Manushi Buddhas. Gautama Buddha was the fifth one, while in the Hindu tradition, he is considered as the ninth avatara (incarnation; lit.

Austria, Theosophy in · Avalokitesvara · Avatara · Avesa Avatara · Avichi · Avidya · Awareness, Spiritual · Azoth · Baal · Babula · Bahai Faith · Bailey, Alice Ann Latrobe Bateman · Bamian Statues · Banyan Tree · Baptism · Bardo · Bardo Thodol ·

This Theosophical Encyclopedia contains all the articles of the printed Theosophical Encyclopedia published by the Theosophical Publishing House, Manila. In addition, new articles that are not in the printed version are continually being added. Many of the articles are also being updated · ...

2 weeks ago - (1) An avatara is described as an incarnation, and the text discusses how Shri Krishna, as an avatara, possesses unique qualities and displays various pastimes, including the subduing of wicked demons and the showering of mercy.[14] (2) Incarnations ...

May 29, 2025 - The meaning of avatara, Yogananda stated, is not that Divine Consciousness, which has never known imperfection, appears in human form to show us a reality completely alien to our own.

Error is doomed to imitate truth, and real Theosophy has always been surrounded by a host of often brilliant or spectacular forms of pseudo-theosophy. One significant example of this occult law can be found in the creation of a theosophical cult around the personality of Jiddu Krishnamurti ...

3 weeks ago - The Gupti Ismailis, who observe ... of Vishnu. According to this interpretation, these figures represent the continuity of divine guidance to humankind....

Avatāra (Skt., ‘descent’). The earthly manifestations (or ‘incarnations’) of a Hindu deity. More specifically, it is an earthly manifestation of Viṣṇu due to his free choice (i.e. not due to the laws of karma or a curse) and taking the form of a full human life (including conception, birth, and natural death), for the sake of a specific cosmic purpose.

March 14, 2012 - The Viṣṇu Purāṇa states that the Kalki-Avatār “will re-establish righteousness on earth, and the minds of those who live at the end of Kali-Yuga shall be awakened and become as pellucid as crystal” (Viṣṇu Purāṇa, IV, xxiv; quoted in SD II:378). See AVATARA.

Tortoise In China, a favorite symbol, and Confucius regarded it as sacred; in India the same veneration is given to it, for in one of the preceding manvantaras Vishnu is said in the Puranas to have taken the form of a tortoise to uphold the earth and its beings; his second avatara is called the Tortoise or Kurma avatara.