On the occasion of Christmas some thoughts on the similarities in Hindu and Christian views.
In Christian theology, the Second Coming refers to the promised return of Jesus to earth to finally establish the Kingdom of God on earth by punishing the evil. In Yeats’ poem, written in 1920, the time for the Second Advent is ripe on account of the increasing proliferation of bloodshed and evil in this world. Only this time Christ will not turn his other cheek nor be martyred for the sake of humanity. In the Second Coming as envisaged by Yeats, Christ will assume the form of a ferocious Sphinx who will wreak vengeance the evil on the day of the Last Judgment.
In Hindu theology god descends on earth as avatars or incarnations. He does so whenever evil becomes unbearable with the purpose of destroying the wicked and establishing the rule of the righteous, as explained in the Bhagwad Gita. There are ten major incarnations of which nine have already happened. The last incarnation, known as Kalki, will arrive on Doomsday to end this cycle of time. Everything will be destroyed and the universe will later be created afresh. The Kalki avatar has been described as riding a white horse, brandishing a sword with which he slays the evil.
Though most of the past incarnations have been benign, some of them have been fearsome. The most ferocious has been the Narasimha avatar, with the body of a man but the face and claws of a lion, the opposite of a Sphinx. The purpose of the Narasimha avatar was to slay the evil demon Hiranyakashipu. Hiranyakashipu was given a boon that he would not be killed by either man or beast and therefore the hybrid form.
