As per Vedic literature, God is not a part of the created universe, but the universe exists within god. In order to introduce changes within the universe, divine beings (demi gods) with special abilities were created to carry out the will of god. Human beings interact with these celestials through prayers and offerings in exchange for material gains. But since these celestials were designed only to manage the universe, they have very limited strength when it comes to battle. So, when things get beyond their control, they ask one of the higher authorities for help.
Lord Vishnu, the maintainer of the universe, takes the responsibility to clear any anomalies within the universe. But Lord (Karanodakasayi) Vishnu’s form is huge, with entire galaxies blooming and dying within his form. If he directly attempts to intervene, the Universe might fall apart. Since Lord Vishnu cannot make major changes within the universe because of his form, he needs to first enter this universe by means of an incarnation.
Now, lets look at the situation as a whole. Ravana’s father was Vishrawa, whose father was Pulastya, whose father was Lord Brahma himself. Being a direct descendant of the creator of all beings, Ravana was blessed with several boons from many gods and was extremely powerful. He had created chaos throughout the universe and was completely unstoppable, especially because of the boons he received directly from his great grandfather, Lord Brahma .
These boons were narrated by Vibhishan to Ram in Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 19 and were also discussed between Lord Brahma and the Gods in Bala Kanda – Sarga 15. The primary boon was that Ravana could not be killed by several types of creatures including Gods, Demons, Kinnars, Gandharvas etc. with the exception of human beings. Being too proud of his own strength, Ravana thought he could not be bested by a mere human. So he did not bother to include humans in his boon. After receiving many complaints from the Gods (Bala Kanda – Sarga 15) and after consulting with Lord Vishnu, it was agreed that an incarnation of Lord Vishnu will be born in the realm of humans to fix this problem. Ravana was technically immortal, since a regular human being could never actually defeat him. If Lord Vishnu had not incarnated, Ravana would still be at large, killing innocent people for no reason and raping their wives. That’s right, Ravana was a serial rapist and Sita was not the only woman Ravana had abducted (Bala Kanda – Sarga 16 – Verses 5 to 8). He would not have died a natural death and was beyond the control of any created being. It was very important to stop him but because of his boons, the demigods were helpless against him. This is the reason why Lord Vishnu had to reincarnate as a human in order to get things done.
These boons were narrated by Vibhishan to Ram in Yuddha Kanda – Sarga 19 and were also discussed between Lord Brahma and the Gods in Bala Kanda – Sarga 15. The primary boon was that Ravana could not be killed by several types of creatures including Gods, Demons, Kinnars, Gandharvas etc. with the exception of human beings. Being too proud of his own strength, Ravana thought he could not be bested by a mere human. So he did not bother to include humans in his boon. After receiving many complaints from the Gods (Bala Kanda – Sarga 15) and after consulting with Lord Vishnu, it was agreed that an incarnation of Lord Vishnu will be born in the realm of humans to fix this problem. Ravana was technically immortal, since a regular human being could never actually defeat him. If Lord Vishnu had not incarnated, Ravana would still be at large, killing innocent people for no reason and raping their wives. That’s right, Ravana was a serial rapist and Sita was not the only woman Ravana had abducted (Bala Kanda – Sarga 16 – Verses 5 to 8). He would not have died a natural death and was beyond the control of any created being. It was very important to stop him but because of his boons, the demigods were helpless against him. This is the reason why Lord Vishnu had to reincarnate as a human in order to get things done.
Please note that Lord Vishnu is different from God, and yet all the same. Besides the 3 great forms of Lord Vishnu (Karanodakasayi, Garbhodakasayi and Ksirodakasayi), there's also the absolute Brahman. But this will be discussed in a different section.
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