THE AVATARIC WHIM

 
Everything in the universe is, and from the beginning has been, a materialization of the divine Original Whim working out irrevocably without default, deflection or defeat. It is the unfolding upon the screen of consciousness of the film of creation, sequence after sequence, according to the pattern that issued from the Original Whim. However, when God as God-Man plays the role of Audience He can alter or erase at His avataric whim any thing or happening which was destined from the Original Whim. But the very arising of the avataric whim was inherent in the Original Whim.

The Sufis distinguish between Qaza or destined occurrences, and Qadar or happenings which are impulsive or 'accidental'. The Avatar's or Qutub's actions are impulsive and arise from their infinite compassion; and the functioning of this whim relieves and gives beauty and charm to what would otherwise be a rigid determinism.

The Qutub's actions being about modifications in the previously determined divine Plan, but they are limited in extent. But the Avatar's interventions bring about modifications on a universal scale. For instance, supposing that it was divinely ordained for a war to occur in 1950. It must take place at the appointed time, and the train of events which follows will punctually meet the present time-table. However, if the Avatar is in the world at the time He might, in His exercise of Qadar, ward off the catastrophe by some particular action on the gross plane. And so in the relentless working out of the laws of Nature there can enter the inexplicable divine caprice, spelling out peace instead of war in the diary of man. Kabir has said:

Kabir rekha karam kee kabhee na meete Ram
Meetanhar samarth hai para samajh kiya hai kam.

O Kabir! The lines of fate are never effaced by Rama;
He is All-powerful and can undo destiny, but He never does so
for He has given full thought to what He has planned.

The Avatar does not as a rule interfere with the working out of human destines. He will do so only in times of grave necessity — when He deems it absolutely necessary from His all-encompassing point of view. For a single alteration in the planned and imprinted pattern in which each line and dot is interdependent, means a shaking up and a re-linking of an unending chain of possibilities and events. The least divergence from the pre-drawn line of Fate not only requires infinite adjustments within the immediate orbit of the individual concerned, but involves in its interminable repercussions all those connected by the bond of past sanskaras.

The avataric whim is also part of the divine Destiny. Qaza provides for the absolute necessity of the Avatar's 'chance' intervention, and the very unpredictability of this intervention is predicted in Qaza — for His infinite compassion, because of which His intervention occurs, may not be denied.