o is the source of Avataras?" Then later we shall take up
special Avataras both of the kosmos and of human races. Thus I hope to
place before you a clear, definite succession of ideas on this great
subject, not asking you to believe them because I speak them, not asking
you to accept them because I utter them. Your reason is the bar to which
every truth must come which is true for you; and you err deeply, almost
fatally, if you let the voice of authority impose itself where you do
not answer to the speaking. Every truth is only true to you as you see
it, and as it illuminates the mind; and truth however true is not yet
truth for you, unless your heart opens out to receive it, as the flower
opens out its heart to receive the rays of the morning sun.

First, then, let us take a statement that men of every religion will
accept. Divine manifestations of a special kind take place from time to
time as the need arises for their appearance; and these special
manifestations are marked out from the universal manifestation of God in
His kosmos; for never forget that in the lowest creature that crawls the
earth I'shvara is present as in the highest Deva. But there are certain
special manifestations marked out from this general self-revelation in
the kosmos, and it is these special manifestations which are called
forth by special needs. Two words especially have been used in Hinduism,
marking a certain distinction in the nature of the manifestation--one
the word "Avatara," the other the word "A'vesha." Only for a moment
need we stop on the meaning of the words, important to us because the
literal meaning of the words points to the fundamental difference
between the two. The word "Avatara," as you know, has as its root
"tri," passing over, and with the prefix which is added, the "ava,"
you get the idea of descent, one who descends. That is the literal
meaning of the word. The other word has as its root "vish,"
permeating, penetrating, pervading, and you have there the thought of
something which is permeated or penetrated. So that while in the one
case, Avatara, there is the thought of a descent from above, from
I'shvara to man or animal; in the other, there is rather the idea of an
entity already existing who is influenced, permeated, pervaded by the
divine power, specially illuminated as it were. And thus we have a kind
of intermediate step, if one may say so, between the divine
manifestation in the Avatara and in the kosmos--the par