अवतारा ह्यसंख्येया: हरे: सत्त्वनिधेर्द्विजा: । यताविदासिन: कुल्या: सरस: स्यु: सहस्रश: || २६||

avatÄrÄ hy asaá¹…khyeyÄ
hareḥ sattva-nidher dvijÄḥ
yathÄvidÄsinaḥ kulyÄḥ
sarasaḥ syuḥ sahasraśaḥ

4 times this text was mentioned in purports to other texts: CC(1) , LSB(1) , SB(1) , TLC(1)

 avatÄrÄḥ - incarnations; hi - certainly; asaá¹…khyeyÄḥ - innumerable; hareḥ - of Hari, the Lord; sattva-nidheḥ - of the ocean of goodness; dvijÄḥ - the brÄhmaṇas; yathÄ - as it is; avidÄsinaḥ - inexhaustible; kulyÄḥ - rivulets; sarasaḥ - of vast lakes; syuḥ - are; sahasraÅ›aḥ - thousands of.


Text

O brÄhmaṇas, the incarnations of the Lord are innumerable, like rivulets flowing from inexhaustible sources of water.

Purport

The list of incarnations of the Personality of Godhead given herein is not complete. It is only a partial view of all the incarnations. There are many others, such as ÅšrÄ« HayagrÄ«va, Hari, Haá¹sa, Pṛśnigarbha, Vibhu, Satyasena, Vaikuṇṭha, SÄrvabhauma, Viá¹£vaksena, Dharmasetu, SudhÄmÄ, YogeÅ›vara, Bá¹›hadbhÄnu and others of the bygone ages. ÅšrÄ« PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja said in his prayer, “My Lord, You manifest as many incarnations as there are species of life, namely the aquatics, the vegetables, the reptiles, the birds, the beasts, the men, the demigods, etc., just for the maintenance of the faithful and the annihilation of the unfaithful. You advent Yourself in this way in accordance with the necessity of the different yugas. In the Kali-yuga You have incarnated garbed as a devotee.†This incarnation of the Lord in the Kali-yuga is Lord Caitanya MahÄprabhu. There are many other places, both in the BhÄgavatam and in other scriptures, in which the incarnation of the Lord as ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu is explicitly mentioned. In the Brahma-saá¹hitÄ also it is said indirectly that although there are many incarnations of the Lord, such as RÄma, Ná¹›siá¹ha, VarÄha, Matsya, KÅ«rma and many others, the Lord Himself sometimes incarnates in person. Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu are not, therefore, incarnations, but the original source of all other incarnations. This will be clearly explained in the next Å›loka. So the Lord is the inexhaustible source for innumerable incarnations which are not always mentioned. But such incarnations are distinguished by specific extraordinary feats which are impossible to be performed by any living being. That is the general test to identify an incarnation of the Lord, directly and indirectly empowered. Some incarnations mentioned above are almost plenary portions. For instance, the KumÄras are empowered with transcendental knowledge. ÅšrÄ« NÄrada is empowered with devotional service. MahÄrÄja Pá¹›thu is an empowered incarnation with executive function. The Matsya incarnation is directly a plenary portion. So the innumerable incarnations of the Lord are manifested all over the universes constantly, without cessation, as water flows constantly from waterfalls.