Text

Chapter 7: Unlimited Forms of Godhead

Purport

According to the Vaiṣṇava almanac, the twelve months of the year are named according to the twelve Vaikuṇṭha forms of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and these forms are known as the predominating Deities for the twelve months. This calendar begins with the month of MÄrgaśīrá¹£a, which is equivalent to late November and early December. The Vaiṣṇavas call this month KeÅ›ava. December–January is called NÄrÄyaṇa, January–February MÄdhava, February–March Govinda, March–April Viṣṇu, April–May ÅšrÄ« MadhusÅ«dana, and May–June Trivikrama. June–July is called VÄmana, July–August ÅšrÄ«dhara, August–September HṛṣīkeÅ›a, September–October PadmanÄbha, and October–November DÄmodara. This DÄmodara is different from the DÄmodara in Vraja. The name DÄmodara was given to Kṛṣṇa when He was bound with ropes by His mother, but the DÄmodara form who is the predominating Deity of the month of October–November is a different manifestation.

Just as the months of the year are known according to the twelve different names of the Supreme Lord, members of the Vaiṣṇava community mark twelve parts of the body according to these names. For instance, the tilaka mark on the forehead is called Keśava, and on the stomach, chest and arms the other names are also given. These are the same names as those given the months.

VÄsudeva, Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha expand into eight additional vilÄsa-mÅ«rtis. Their names are Puruá¹£ottama, Acyuta, Ná¹›siá¹ha, JanÄrdana, Hari, Kṛṣṇa, Adhoká¹£aja and Upendra. Adhoká¹£aja and Puruá¹£ottama are the vilÄsa forms of VÄsudeva. Similarly, Upendra and Acyuta are the vilÄsa forms of Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa; Ná¹›siá¹ha and JanÄrdana the vilÄsa forms of Pradyumna; and Hari and Kṛṣṇa the vilÄsa forms of Aniruddha. (This Kṛṣṇa is different from the original Kṛṣṇa.)

These twenty-four forms – the four original Viṣṇu forms, the twelve Vaikuṇṭha forms, and the eight vilÄsa-mÅ«rtis mentioned above – are known as vilÄsa manifestations of the prÄbhava (four-handed) form, and They are named differently according to the position of the symbolic representations (mace, disc, lotus flower and conch shell). Out of these twenty-four vilÄsa forms, some are vaibhava forms, such as Pradyumna, Trivikrama, VÄmana, Hari and Kṛṣṇa, which have different features. Thus VÄsudeva, Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha are prÄbhava-vilÄsa forms of Kṛṣṇa, and there are a total of twenty further variations. All of these have Vaikuṇṭha planets in the spiritual sky and are situated in eight different directions. Although each of Them resides eternally in the spiritual sky, some of Them nonetheless appear in the material world also.

In the spiritual sky all the planets dominated by the NÄrÄyaṇa feature are eternal. The topmost planet in the spiritual sky is called Kṛṣṇaloka, which is divided into three portions: Gokula, MathurÄ and DvÄrakÄ. In the MathurÄ portion, the form of KeÅ›ava is always situated. He is represented on this earthly planet in MathurÄ, India, where the KeÅ›ava mÅ«rti is worshiped. Similarly, there is a Puruá¹£ottama form in JagannÄtha PurÄ«, in Orissa. In Ä€nandÄraṇya there is the form of Viṣṇu, and in MÄyÄpur, the birthplace of Lord Caitanya, there is the form of Hari. Many other forms are also situated in various places on the earth.

Not only in this universe but in all other universes as well these forms of Kṛṣṇa are distributed everywhere. It is indicated that this earth is divided into seven islands, which are the seven continents, and it is understood that on every island there are similar forms. But at the present moment these are found only in India. Although from the Vedic literature we can understand that there are similar forms in other parts of the world, at present there is no information of their location.

These forms of Kṛṣṇa are distributed throughout the world and throughout the universes to give pleasure to the devotees. It is not that devotees are born only in India. There are devotees in all parts of the world, but they have simply forgotten their identity. These forms incarnate not only to give pleasure to the devotees but to reestablish devotional service and perform other activities which vitally concern the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Some of these forms are incarnations mentioned in the scriptures, such as the Viṣṇu incarnation, Trivikrama incarnation, Ná¹›siá¹ha incarnation and VÄmana incarnation.

In the SiddhÄrtha-saá¹hitÄ there is a description of the twenty-four forms of Viṣṇu, and these forms are named according to the position of the symbols in Their four hands. When describing the positions of objects in the hands of the Viṣṇu mÅ«rtis, one should begin with the lower right hand and then move to the upper right hand, to the upper left hand and finally to the lower left hand. In this way, VÄsudeva is represented by club, conch shell, disc and lotus flower. Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa is represented by club, conch shell, lotus flower and disc. Similarly, Pradyumna is represented by disc, conch shell, club and lotus flower. Aniruddha is represented by disc, club, conch shell and lotus flower. In the spiritual sky the representations of NÄrÄyaṇa are twenty in number and are described as follows: ÅšrÄ« KeÅ›ava (lotus, conch shell, disc and club), NÄrÄyaṇa (conch, lotus, club and disc), ÅšrÄ« MÄdhava (club, disc, conch and lotus), ÅšrÄ« Govinda (disc, club, lotus and conch), Viṣṇu-mÅ«rti (club, lotus, conch and disc), MadhusÅ«dana (disc, conch, lotus and club), Trivikrama (lotus, club, disc and conch), ÅšrÄ« VÄmana (conch, disc, club and lotus), ÅšrÄ«dhara (lotus, disc, club and conch), HṛṣīkeÅ›a (club, disc, lotus and conch), PadmanÄbha (conch, lotus, disc and club), DÄmodara (lotus, disc, club and conch), Puruá¹£ottama (disc, lotus, conch and club), Acyuta (club, lotus, disc and conch), Ná¹›siá¹ha (disc, lotus, club and conch), JanÄrdana (lotus, disc, conch and club), ÅšrÄ« Hari (conch, disc, lotus and club), ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa (conch, club, lotus and disc), Adhoká¹£aja (lotus, club, conch and disc), and Upendra (conch, club, disc and lotus).

According to the Hayaśīrá¹£a PañcarÄtra, there are sixteen forms, and these are also named according to the positions of the disc and so on. The conclusion is that the Supreme Original Personality of Godhead is Kṛṣṇa. He is called lÄ«lÄ-puruá¹£ottama, and He resides principally in Vá¹›ndÄvana as the son of Nanda. It is also learned from the Hayaśīrá¹£a PañcarÄtra that there are nine forms protecting the two PurÄ«s known as MathurÄ PurÄ« and DvÄrakÄ PurÄ«. These nine forms are VÄsudeva, Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, NÄrÄyaṇa, Ná¹›siá¹ha, HayagrÄ«va, VarÄha and BrahmÄ. These are different manifestations of the prakÄÅ›a and vilÄsa forms of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Lord Caitanya next informed SanÄtana GosvÄmÄ« that there are different forms of svÄá¹Å›a as well, and these are divided into the Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa division and the incarnation division. The Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa division includes the three puruá¹£a-avatÄras – KÄraṇodaka-Å›ÄyÄ« Viṣṇu, Garbhodaka-Å›ÄyÄ« Viṣṇu and Kṣīrodaka-Å›ÄyÄ« Viṣṇu – and the other division comprises the lÄ«lÄ-avatÄras, such as the Lord’s incarnations as a fish and a tortoise.

There are six kinds of incarnations: (1) the puruá¹£a-avatÄras, (2) the lÄ«lÄ-avatÄras, (3) the guṇa-avatÄras, (4) the manvantara-avatÄras, (5) the yuga-avatÄras and (6) the Å›aktyÄveÅ›a-avatÄras. Out of the six vilÄsa manifestations of Kṛṣṇa, there are two divisions based on His age, and these are called bÄlya and paugaṇá¸a. As the son of Nanda MahÄrÄja, Kṛṣṇa in His original form enjoys both of these childhood aspects – namely, bÄlya and paugaṇá¸a.

We can conclude that there is no end to the expansions and incarnations of Kṛṣṇa. Lord Caitanya described some of them to SanÄtana just to give him an idea of how the Lord expands and how He enjoys. These conclusions are confirmed in ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (1.3.26). There it is said that there is no limit to the incarnations of the Supreme Lord, just as there is no limit to the waves of the ocean.

Kṛṣṇa first incarnates as the three puruá¹£a-avatÄras, namely, the MahÄ-viṣṇu or KÄraṇodaka-Å›ÄyÄ« avatÄra, the Garbhodaka-Å›ÄyÄ« avatÄra and the Kṣīrodaka-Å›ÄyÄ« avatÄra. This is confirmed in the SÄtvata-tantra. Kṛṣṇa’s energies can also be divided into three: His energy of thinking, His energy of feeling and His energy of acting. When He exhibits His thinking energy He is the Supreme Lord, when He exhibits His feeling energy He is Lord VÄsudeva, and when He exhibits His acting energy He is Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa BalarÄma. Without the Lord’s thinking, feeling and acting, there would be no possibility of creation. Although there is no creation in the spiritual world as there is in the material world, both worlds are manifestations of Kṛṣṇa’s energy of acting, which He carries out in the form of Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa BalarÄma.

The spiritual world – the Vaikuṇṭha planets and Kṛṣṇaloka – is situated in Kṛṣṇa’s energy of thinking. Although there is no creation in the spiritual world, which is eternal, it is still to be understood that the spiritual planets depend on the thinking energy of the Supreme Lord. This thinking energy is described in the Brahma-saá¹hitÄ (5.2), where it is said, “The supreme abode, known as Goloka, is manifested like a lotus flower with hundreds of petals. Everything there is manifested by Ananta, who is a form of BalarÄma, or Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa.†The material cosmic manifestation and its different universes are manifested through mÄyÄ, or the material energy, but one should not think that the material energy, or material nature, is the cause of this cosmic manifestation. Rather, it is caused by the Supreme Lord, who uses His different expansions to act through material nature. In other words, there is no possibility of any creation without the superintendence of the Supreme Lord. The form of the Lord who causes the energy of material nature to bring about creation is Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa, and it is understood that this cosmic manifestation is created when the material nature comes in contact with the superintendent energy of the Supreme Lord, Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa. The example is given of iron becoming hot in contact with fire and, when red hot, acting just like fire.

In ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (10.46.31) it is said that BalarÄma and Kṛṣṇa are the origin of all living entities and that these two personalities enter into everything. A list of incarnations is given in ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (1.3), and they are as follows: (1) the KumÄras, (2) NÄrada, (3) VarÄha, (4) Matsya, (5) Yajña, (6) Nara-NÄrÄyaṇa, (7) KÄrdami Kapila, (8) DattÄtreya, (9) Hayaśīrá¹£a, (10) Haá¹sa, (11) Dhruvapriya, or Pṛśnigarbha, (12) Ṛṣabha, (13) Pá¹›thu, (14) Ná¹›siá¹ha, (15) KÅ«rma, (16) Dhanvantari, (17) MohinÄ«, (18) VÄmana, (19) BhÄrgava (ParaÅ›urÄma), (20) RÄghavendra, (21) VyÄsa, (22) PralambÄri BalarÄma, (23) Kṛṣṇa, (24) Buddha and (25) Kalki. Because almost all of these twenty-five lÄ«lÄ-avatÄras appear in one day of BrahmÄ, which is called a kalpa, they are sometimes called kalpa-avatÄras. Out of these incarnations, Haá¹sa and MohinÄ« are not permanent, but Kapila, DattÄtreya, Ṛṣabha, Dhanvantari and VyÄsa are five eternal forms, and they are more celebrated. KÅ«rma (the tortoise incarnation), Matsya (the fish), Nara-NÄrÄyaṇa, VarÄha (the boar), Hayaśīrá¹£a, Pṛśnigarbha and BalarÄma are considered incarnations of vaibhava. Similarly, there are three guṇa-avatÄras, or incarnations of the qualitative modes of nature, and these are BrahmÄ, Viṣṇu and Åšiva.

There are fourteen manvantara-avatÄras: (1) Yajña, (2) Vibhu, (3) Satyasena, (4) Hari, (5) Vaikuṇṭha, (6) Ajita, (7) VÄmana, (8) SÄrvabhauma, (9) Ṛṣabha, (10) Viá¹£vaksena, (11) Dharmasetu, (12) SudhÄmÄ, (13) YogeÅ›vara and (14) Bá¹›hadbhÄnu. Out of these fourteen manvantara-avatÄras, Yajña and VÄmana are also lÄ«lÄ-avatÄras. The manvantara-avatÄras are also known as vaibhava-avatÄras.

The four yuga-avatÄras are also described in ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam. In the Satya-yuga the incarnation of God is white; in the TretÄ-yuga He is red; in the DvÄpara-yuga He is blackish; and in the Kali-yuga He is also blackish, but sometimes, in a special Kali-yuga, His color is yellowish (as in the case of Caitanya MahÄprabhu). As far as the Å›aktyÄveÅ›a-avatÄras are concerned, they include Kapila, Ṛṣabha, Ananta, BrahmÄ (although sometimes the Lord Himself becomes BrahmÄ), Catuḥsana (the KumÄras, who are the incarnation of knowledge), NÄrada (the incarnation of devotional service), King Pá¹›thu (the incarnation of administrative power) and ParaÅ›urÄma (the incarnation who subdues evil principles).