God-Realized: Avatara, Messiah, Buddha, and the Immortals
Throughout time there have been stories of gods living as humans. Many cultures have created mythology. Most religions are born from the life stories and teachings of humans who are considered incarnations of a living God. A common idea in these stories is that God incarnates as a human to encourage, through teaching and by example, the spiritual evolution of humanity. We will look at several examples from different cultures, but with very similar stories and teachings.
Related Definitions:
Avatara: In English, Avatara means an embodiment, or physical manifestation of the Divine. The Sanskrit word and original meaning is a shade different, translated as “the descent of God,” or simply “incarnation.” The word incarnation does not reflect the Western concept of “becoming flesh.” In the case of God, there is no distinction between the physical body and the energy behind it.
Buddha: From the Sanskrit root Buddha, which means both “to wake up,” and “to know.” So, then, Buddha means Awakened One, or Enlightened One.
Bodhisattva: A Bodhisattva is an Awakened One who chooses to continue living on the earth to guide all beings toward enlightenment.
Messiah: Messiah is a Hebrew word signifying “the coming savior”. The Greek translation is Christ, The Anointed One.
Immortal: One who is outside the dimension of time, does not age, and can live on earth indefinitely.
A bodhisattva guide is someone with a huge amount of compassion and dedication to the spiritual growth and enlightenment of everyone. Many of the divine teachings of the bodhisattva Buddha have inspired both religion and spirituality. People in this world are inspired by a Buddha statue and create altar’s for healing and spiritual growth. Buddha taught about spiritual healing and growth, but also divine law. There seems a common thread in the spiritual teachings of every religion. Is there a divine matrix linking all world religion and spirituality?