Introduction

It was the third week of school and Ms. Bhagvana wanted to do something special for her fourth grade students. She had planned to have a surprise guest speaker come visit the classroom today.

"Good morning, class!" said Bhagvana

"Good morning, Ms. Bhagvana!"

"Today I have arranged something special for all of you. Someone known to us all is going to be speaking to you little munchkins. He is a highly honored and special person. Can any of you guess who he might be?"

One of the nerdy kids in the front raised his hand anxiously, "Oo, oo, I know who it is!! Is it....Michael Jordan?!"

"Nice try, but no, it is not. This person is even more mighty than a hundred Michael Jordans put together!! Kids, say hello to the mighty Vishnu."

Vishnu walked in, taking giant leaps, with his hands swinging back and forth. The faces of the children went from curosity to amazement in a matter of only a few seconds. Mouths were wide open at how tall and strong Vishnu looked. None of the kids were expecting to see such a highly devoted God in front of them!

"Hello, kids! My name is Vishnu. Many of you probably have already heard of me. I am sure your families may have pictures of me hung up on the walls or present in your shrines. I am here to tell you stories about myself and my many incarnations."

A little girl in the back raised her hand shyly. "Mr. Vishnu, what are incarnations?"

"Why, my little one, I shall tell you. Incarnations are like....say you are playing a video game of Mario Kart. There are different characters that you get to choose to be but they are all playing the same game, right? Incarnations are sort of the same thing except the game is me and the incarnations are the different players. My life resembles a game except that the game happens in real life and I am called upon when there is evil or the world has a big problem. I am the one who saves the world from danger!"

"Oh, so how many players do you have, Mr. Vishnu?"

"I have ten players in my game and I am going to tell you some stories about them. My time here is short and I promised my wife Lakshmi I would be home for lunch, so I only have time to share four stories with you all. The first one I am going to tell you is about Matsya, who is my first incarnation, or player. He is a man who could transform into a fish. The second story will be about the man-lion named Narasimha. The final two are ones you probably hear about the most at home and at the temple--Rama and Krishna. I will tell you about how, as Rama, I defeated the ten-headed demon named Ravana. Finally, the last story will be a love story about myself as Krishna and the love I had for Radha. Is everyone comfortable and ready to get started on the first story?"

The kids sat up in their chairs, anxious to hear the crazy stories that Vishnu was going to tell them. Their eyes and ears were wide open and ready to observe. The first story began....