Page 16 - Hinduism

reason nor is it a blind faith. Every one can see God face to face directly if he eagerly seeks Him, and then he is sought by God and blessed. Just as man seeks God, God also seeks man and saves him from sinfulness and the sense of separation. This is His redemptive purpose and it is gradually realised in five aspects or stages. Brahman is beyond and is pure and perfect and He is called Para. Then He becomes Īśvara or the Infinite who is called the creator, preserver and destroyer of the Cosmos or the Universe or Trimūrti. Then He enters into the heart or all Jīvas as their inner ruler or Antaryāmin. Then on certain occasions of cosmic crisis, He incarnates into the world and these historic incarnations are called Avatāras. In the last stage, He is called Arca or permanent incarnation of love in the form of Idols. The one increasing purpose of God in all these stages or descents is the redemption of the Jīvas from their career of sin and ignorance. The Hindu scriptures with their infinite motherly tenderness reveal the gradual purpose as Śruti, Purāna, Smṛti, Itihāsa and Psalms in Tamil and other vernaculars. The Upaniṣads reveal his perfect nature as Para and Antaryāmin: the Purāṇas describe His nature as Īśvara doing his threefold cosmic function. The Itihāsas describe the redemptive acts of the Avatāras. The Smṛtis expound his moral and aesthetic excellences and lastly the Psalms describe His love and easy accessibility to all persons. Brahman assumes a
bewitching form of beauty in order that He may 16