How did Parashurama exist at the same time as another avatar Rama? Why did he oppose Rama?
From: Seema Saraogi
Hare Krsna Prabhu. Both Ram and Parasuram were incarnations of The Lord. Then how did they both exist together and come face to face in the “Sita swayamvar” pastime?
Transcript
Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.
Question from Seema Sarogi Mataji. Both Rama and Parashurama were incarnations of the Lord, then how did they both exist together and come face to face in the Sita-Sahyamvara pastime? Answer, there is no rule given in the scriptures that two incarnations of the Lord cannot exist at the same time. Of course, not both the incarnations may be active at the same time.
We know Krishna and Balarama are both manifestations of the Supreme Lord, both descended together. So, of course, they are brothers and they descend always together as Lakshmana and Rama, for example. So, the point is that, that is a standard example of the Lord and his most intimate male associate, who is also a non-different manifestation of himself, always manifesting together.
Apart from that, also the Lord has a particular mission and he descends for that mission. But Parashurama, he completed that mission by freeing the world from the atrocious Kshatriyas and then he retired to perform a life, perform austerities and dedicated himself to a life of exemplifying how an individual who is aiming for the highest perfection of life should live. So, he lived a life of austerity.
Now, in the particular incident in the Ramayana, he descended back because he had heard about the prowess of Lord Ram and he wanted to see that the Kshatriyas had once again become powerful. So, generally speaking, every pastime of the Lord has multiple meanings. So, what is the significance of this pastime where apparently Parashurama challenges Lord Ram? The idea is that when a particular manifestation of the Lord is performing his Leela, there may be other avatars of the Lord also there, but they don't play the central role and when the particular avatar plays the central role, that time everybody contributes to demonstrating his glory.
So, for example, in Narasimhadev Prahlad pastime, it is described that Prahlad Maharaj alone was fearless enough to approach the angry half-man, half-lion Lord and even Lakshmidevi was not ready to approach him. Now, does that mean that Prahlad Maharaj is a greater devotee than Lakshmidevi? Not necessarily. Lakshmidevi is directly the consort of the Lord and surely she is very, very dear to the Lord, but in this particular pastime, where the glory of Prahlad Maharaj is to be demonstrated, so that particular time, all the other avatars, sorry, all the other personalities, no matter how exalted they may be, they all play a role by the Lord's inspiration to demonstrate to the world the glory of that particular avatar.
Now, that particular devotee in this case, for example, even Narada Muni himself, it is said in the Bhagavatam that he bowed down to the rule of Hiranyakashipura, Prahlad did not. Actually, Prahlad got all his inspiration, knowledge and devotion from Narada Muni. So, is it that Prahlad is considered to be greater than Narada Muni? No, the disciples of them are greater than the spiritual master.
At the same time, in this particular pastime, the glory of Prahlad Maharaj is to be demonstrated and that is why the narrative happens in a particular way by the will of the Lord. So, similarly, in the Ramayana, Lord Ram is the central character to be glorified and all the other characters play contributing roles accordingly. So, now the confrontation between Parashuram and Ram is meant to demonstrate the glory of Lord Ram.
So, when Parashuram comes along and he hears that Lord Ram has broken the Shiva Chakra, the powerful bow of Lord Shiva. So, he comes and asks Lord Ram, here there is the bow of Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu is greater than Lord Shiva.
So, I want to see what is your actual power. So, you lifted and broke the Shiva Chakra. Let us see if you can lift this Vishnu Chakra and he gives the Vishnu Chakra, the Vishnu bow and Lord Ram not only immediately picks it up and threads it and then he puts a bow on it and he points it towards Parashuram and he says you are a Brahmana, I will not kill you but an arrow that has been put on a bow, it cannot go waste.
Amoghasharam. So, what should I do with this? So, when firstly Parashuram sees the formidable power of Lord Ram by which he understands that this is no ordinary Kshatriya. This is, he understands, hey, that's me.
Now, we may wonder if Parashuram and Ram are the same person, how could Parashuram not know about it? Actually, this is the arrangement of Yoga Maya by which the Lord sometimes forgets certain aspects of his pastimes. Just like say sometimes it is described, Krishna is looking for butter so that he can steal it. So, now Krishna is omniscient and he knows where butter is but why does he have to search for it? That is just to enhance the rasa and it is not that he is pretending to search, actually by the arrangement of Yoga Maya he forgets.
He does not know actually where the butter is. Yoga Maya arranges to cover his omniscience. So, similarly in this case Parashuram forgets and when he forgets that he is covered over by Yoga Maya, he is not alone and then when he sees that extraordinary power of Lord Ram, he understands, oh, this is the manifestation of Supreme Lord himself and he understands that, okay, this is the same Lord has come again.
So, that indicates that he is the Yoga Maya covering one who is removed. Now, of course, our Acharyas have described that Parashuram is a Shaktyavishaka. So, he is not exactly Lord Vishnu himself but he is extremely powerful Jiva who is not Krishna himself but who has directly been empowered by Krishna.
So, in that case there is no question of any conflict arising because a Jiva no matter how powerful even when he is empowered by Supreme Lord is never omniscient in the same way as the Supreme Lord himself is. So, Parashuram who had exhibited formidable prowess earlier was now revealed as not as powerful as the Supreme Lord. So, in this way, even if Parashuram is taken to be Shaktyavishaka, still the principle remains that his subordination to Lord Ram is the way in which Ramayana is enacted.
So, that Lord Ram's glory has become undeniably clear and universally acceptable for everyone. So, it is possible that in some manifestations Parashuram is directly the Supreme Lord, in others Parashuram is a Jiva. So, who is empowered by the Supreme Lord.
Either way, his apparent forgetfulness of the divinity of Lord Ram and his apparent opposition to Lord Ram are both orchestrations of the Yoga Maya by which the glory of Lord Ram is demonstrated. Thank you.