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Introduction xv
love; and a special grace which transcends all conditions of karma (the “cosmic law” that governs all action and its inevitable consequences for the doer)— enabling the Avatar to miraculously transform an individual’s life by an act of divine will. Traditionally, the last full Avatar in the Hindu religion was Krishna, some 5,000 years ago.
The Bhãgavad-Gita (IV.6-8), considered by many as the Hindu bible, explains of the Avatar:
Though unborn and imperishable in my own being, though lord over finite lives, still I take as my basis, material existence and appear through my power.
Whenever there is a decline of righteousness and unrighteousness is on the increase, I manifest myself.
For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, and for the establishment of righteousness, I come into being from age to age.