Avatar

An avatar (Sanskrit: m., अवतार avatāra, literally: "descent", from ava- "down" and tṝ "to cross over") is a superhuman spiritual being, which for the benefit of humanity completely selflessly [incorporation|incorporates]] itself one or more times in a human body without drawing any fruits from it for its own development. Individual or several members of man that are animated by an avatar can be multiplied after the avatar's death and transferred to later people - in pre-Christian times, however, as a rule only to people related by blood. Thus Shem, a son of Noah, was imbued with an avatar in his etheric body. This enabled the descendants of Shem, the Semites, to be imbued with duplicated images of this etheric body. The etheric body of Shem was preserved and transferred to Melchisedek, the great Solar Initiate of Atlantis, so that he could fulfil his mission, the initiation of Abraham.

Christ is the greatest avatar, the only one who could penetrate all the members of a human being, the Jesus, down to the physical body, so that one can speak here of a complete incarnation, but otherwise only of an incorporation.The multiplied images of the members of the being of Jesus, who was permeated by Christ, played a great role in the development of Christianity. The blood relationship no longer had any significance for the transmission of these christened members to later human beings.

Literature

References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated. Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com. Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English. Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA) Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.