The Rudolf Steiner Archive

11. The Solar Logos. The Ten Avatars

[ 1 ] The outward forms of the phenomenal world have, in addition to their external meaning, an inner significance; they are, as it were, symbols of an earlier phase of development. “All that is transitory is but a parable” to those who look more deeply. To the psychographer, who looks with astral faculties into the inner becoming, into the soul of the world, the things of the phenomenal world unveil their inner history. The eye of Dangma sees the transformations of the Logos in a series of developments. The sacred books of the Vedas and the Rosicrucian Chronicle speak of ten such avatars or metamorphoses of our present Solar Logos. To the clairvoyant organ, today’s lancelet (Amphioxus lanceolatus) is the mnemonic sign of an incarnation of the Solar Logos and a parable for the forebodings of the vertebrates. One can imagine this by thinking of the signs of the Sickle, Scorpion, Fish, and so on in the calendar, which signify symbols for processes in the celestial world. The vertebral bones, from which fish, amphibians, birds, and mammals developed successively, were present in the foreshadowing only in their initial rudimentary form, just as in today’s lancelet the sensory organ is indicated by a single nerve cord, from which the brain of aquatic animals—the fish—organized itself in later developments.

[ 2 ] The Rosicrucian Chronicle describes the first metamorphosis of the Sun Logo in the following words:

The single primordial substance of the light of the spirit dawned within itself. And from the dawning material density, a spiritual distinctiveness emerged, attuning itself to the material twilight.

The World Spirit lives in this feeling as the soul whose body is the waters.

Sanskrit: Matsya = Fish

First Avatar.

[ 3 ] The Solar Logos incarnates as a model and guide in the midst of a new phase of development. Originally, the spirit dawned within itself; spirit and matter are still undifferentiated and intertwined. Thus, mollusks and worms today still exhibit no separate nervous life; sensation permeates their entire unified substance of which they are composed. In the first Avatar, the Spirit separated from the egg-shaped astral, fine-material shell and formed a luminous point within it, its rays permeating it. All development is polar.

[ 4 ] And the spiritual light generates within itself an even higher spirituality; it brings forth from itself an even finer mental matter—into which the brain later develops—the feeling, astral matter [is] pushed back, enveloping itself protectively at its outermost pole with an even firmer matter, from which the physical later develops. This would be the second avatar, the second metamorphosis of the Deity, which the Rosicrucian Chronicle expresses with the following words:

And sensation withdrew from the watery body, drawing to itself the solidity that slumbers within the waters. This material solidity became the sorrow of sensation. Trembling, the garment was adapted to the life of the world soul; the soul created harmony within the trembling garment.

[ 5 ] The symbol representing the second Avatar is Kurma, the turtle (amphibians). This is why Paracelsus viewed amphibians as animals whose nature is even closer to that of the deity. Second third of the second round.

[ 6 ] In the third metamorphosis of the Logos, the spiritual aspect withdraws even further into itself; astral matter expands, becoming stronger and more solid, and the developing human being lives entirely within its immense power and strength, while the spirit remains in a state of slumber. The astral substance first had to become capable of resistance in its full selfhood in order to be overcome again later.

[ 7 ] The symbol representing the third Avatar, at the beginning of the third cycle, is called Varaha, the Boar. The Rosicrucian Chronicle states:

The garment shall be a shield against the storms of matter: it shall be a strong covering for its spiritual master, and in

[ 8 ] The shell must therefore live out selfhood. Thus, the world soul clothed itself in the garb of powerful animality.

[ 9 ] In the fourth avatar (the first third of the fourth round), this animal-man became a ruler. A giant in his material power, he drew the spiritual realm entirely into himself and made himself its master, protecting it with his immense strength. A small part remained behind as a warning, and, connected to the Universal Soul, the soul was symbolized as a dwarf—the power of the Nara-simha, the man-lion.

[ 10 ] And the powerful animal nature became the Self, its vital force surging through the loins of the physical body, warding off the enemy force from the delicate spiritual Self, which slumbers as a guardian within the powerful animal nature of the human lion.

[ 11 ] But the dwarf of the spirit, Vamana, pours his life-giving power through the giant’s limbs, guides him, and makes himself the master of the man-lion, just as the giant Goliath was mastered by the dwarf David. And the Warner, too, is now drawn entirely into the material world and loses his last connection with the Universal Soul. Man is now entirely on his own and has reached the utmost degree of isolation. At first, this spirit, isolated within matter, fights selfishly and capriciously against the other isolated spirits; he becomes unrestrained because the Warner is absent and guidance is lacking. It is the physical man, and the fifth Avatar is:

And the Warner became the ruler of the powerful animal nature of the human lion. The dwarf defeated the giant’s immense strength, and he awakened spiritual life within the animal nature of those massive limbs.

[ 12 ] Now the sixth Avatar appears as the first lawgiver, and the law strictly punishes the misuse of the warrior’s power. This is the era of Parashu-Rama (father of Rama). He leads the warriors and brings them under the strict but just law.

[ 13 ] Sixth Avatar:

Henceforth, the body’s loins should not stretch without the guiding power of the spiritual life. For such a stretch, alien to the spirit, would be evil. The spiritual life took its place among the warriors endowed with strength in their loins, and the good law sought to punish the forces alien to the spirit.

[ 14 ] Now, as the seventh incarnation of the Logos, Rama, the son of Parashu-Rama, appeared, and he softened the harshness and severity of the commandments with love, and the warriors loved the law in willing obedience. He was the first, still legendary, ideal king of the Indians and all other peoples.

[ 15 ] Seventh Avatar:

The spiritual being’s compulsion was serious and stern. Then gentleness arose within it. The harsh commandment of the law dissolved in love.

[ 16 ] Now Krishna appeared as the eighth incarnation of God; he taught people to experience love as bliss and lived as a model of bliss for them:

And the seed of love blossomed and bore the fruit of love, which is called bliss. And bliss itself was human.

[ 17 ] Up to this point, human life had been an ascent to the level of bliss attained by Budhi, but now the path had to be retraced downward along the arc in order to learn wisdom and to free Manas once more through action—through karma—and reunite it with Budhi. And so Buddha appeared as a guide and archetype, far ahead of human development, to show them the way. Thus the ninth Avatar is called: Buddha.

And Bliss sent her Son to Earth: he who is known as Wisdom Incarnate. And she dwelt in the mortal body of the King’s Son. — Buddha.

[ 18 ] The tenth Avatar: This is the one who is to come; Kalki, according to Indian tradition. The Rosicrucian Chronicle states:

But when the time is fulfilled, the eye opens, and human destiny shines brightly within, choose the radiant figure as your guide: then destiny itself will become your law and loving will. Whose eye opens sees living roses growing from the cross.

[ 19 ] For the Rosicrucians of this Commandery, Christ was the ever-evolving crystallization of the shining example for humanity’s upward development—the one who, as Jesus, took upon himself human karma and, through ever-new incarnations, remains connected to the karma of Christendom, leading and guiding it until the end of this race.

[ 20 ] All the life stories of the Nirmanakayas, the teachers of humanity, were similar; they follow a specific pattern—life, temptation, sacrificial death, and transfiguration—chosen for the common purpose of their descent into matter: Zarathustra, Hermes, the Druid teachers, Buddha, Christ. Up to the transfiguration, the lives of Jesus and Buddha are the same; from this point on, a change occurs, and Christ descends deepest into matter, for he has been given a special task. When the individuality of the Mahaguru incarnated as Buddha, his teachings had led to misunderstandings and divisions; he had given too much. Once again, the Buddha had to incarnate as Shankaracharya, and it was from him that the Tibetan teachers, the Mahatmas, were trained; they conveyed the teachings of Theosophy to the public in part, in order to convey through them to the various religions the esoteric content that underlies them all equally, and to raise the fallen spiritual level of humanity. When the individuality of the Mahaguru incarnated in Christ, he did not, as was his custom, choose a virgin embryonic substance that was pure and free of karma, but descended deeper, so that, burdened with karma yet in full brotherhood with humanity—as flesh of their flesh—he might bring even the densest matter to spiritual transfiguration. Thus the Mystery of Christ came into being: that the Mahaguru took possession of the body of a lower Mahatma, a chela of the third initiation, the thirty-year-old Jesus, whose body had already passed through life and formed karma. From then on, Christ appeared as the great Teacher of humanity. Up to the Transfiguration, the life of Jesus resembles that of the Buddha; but from this point on, the tragedy of Christ begins. He was destined to experience, in an exemplary and public manner through his own body, the death on the cross and the Resurrection—events that had otherwise been performed only symbolically in secrecy—so that through this sacrifice he might also lift up the great mass of humanity and lead them toward redemption from lower matter. Thus, on the one hand, the Buddha stands on a higher level because he remained more exalted, untouched by lower matter, and merely taught; on the other hand, Christ stands higher because he performed the greater sacrifice and, through his descent into the densest physical matter, brought it back in a spiritualized form.

[ 21 ] Christ did not leave behind any written records, unlike other great teachers of humanity. His task was to live out these teachings—which already existed—in an exemplary manner for humanity, thereby making the Mystery Teachings accessible so as to lead as many people as possible toward a more rapid spiritual evolution. Thus he made the greatest sacrifice for humanity: His luminous spirit descended into the darkest matter.