Avatars

Not the little pics you use to identify yourself in online communities.Avatar comes from the Sanskrit word avatara which something like emanation from god.Actually avatar comes from avatarati which literally means decent(from a supreme being) for a spiritual purpose. I've noticed that theologians are fond of emanations.Aristotle discussed emanations. So what they might be is when god takes a form other than non form. In Hinduism, they are almost god on earth,Krishna and Rama being avatars of Vishnu. Until the advent of the internet, this was where you probably most commonly ran into avatar.
Whether descent or emanation, it seems avatars are sent to the planet to guide men, or perhaps they are men who, thru spiritual practice, gained an ininite knowledge of god. We find them in one form or another in all major faiths. Christianity only allows one,Jesus Christ. Islam tells us Muhammad was the last one we get. Hinduism has people claiming to be avatars today.( One imagines a true avatar does not have to announce their presence.) I believe they are amongst us at all times, that certain people gain a spiritual level that makes them avatars. Christians and Muslims might call them saints,Buddhist call them Boddhisattvas. Granted that religion is a cultural expression of god knowledge, we are going to have our avatars presented in ways that people understand within their own cultural milieu. One document I read, but cant't recall the name, suggests that there is an avatar of every age.
Makes sense to me. So who is todays avatar. Certainly not Ted Haggard,Pope Benedict, Osama bin Laden or Rod Blagojevich. With a global proliferation of small wars and conflicts we find no one taking a spiritual stand except for one, a self confessed simple monk. Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama is the only one to address our age from a pulpit of peace. I have read much of his writings,listened to some of his lectures and am convinced his message is one the world needs to hear. Compassion is his main theme. Imagine if Israelis and Palestinians focused on compassion. There would be no senseless killing of innocents by both sides. It seems hypocritical to imagine advancing god's cause(whoever your god may be) thru killing and violence. Even in The Koran, Jihad is represented as a struggle, a personal struggle or spiritual advancement. Fundamentalism, whether christian or Muslim, does not take us anywhere near the fundamentals ascribed by the founders of those faiths. Fundamentalism is a philosophy of a belief system that is loosing its relevance in the world. And thats a dangerous neighborhood to be wandering around in alone.