yei yei rÅ«pe jÄne, sei tÄhÄ kahe
sakala sambhave kṛṣṇe, kichu mithyÄ nahe
yei yei - whatever; rÅ«pe - in the form; jÄne - one knows; sei - he; tÄhÄ - that; kahe - says; sakala sambhave kṛṣṇe - everything is possible in Kṛṣṇa; kichu mithyÄ nahe - there is no falsity.
In whatever form one knows the Lord, one speaks of Him in that way. In this there is no falsity, since everything is possible in Kṛṣṇa.
In this connection we may mention an incident that took place between two of our sannyÄsÄ«s while we were preaching the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahÄ-mantra in Hyderabad. One of them stated that “Hare RÄma†refers to ÅšrÄ« BalarÄma, and the other protested that “Hare RÄma†means Lord RÄma. Ultimately the controversy came to me, and I gave the decision that if someone says that the “RÄma†in “Hare RÄma†is Lord RÄmacandra and someone else says that the “RÄma†in “Hare RÄma†is ÅšrÄ« BalarÄma, both are correct because there is no difference between ÅšrÄ« BalarÄma and Lord RÄma. Here in ÅšrÄ« Caitanya-caritÄmá¹›ta we find that KṛṣṇadÄsa KavirÄja GosvÄmÄ« has stated the same conclusion:
yei yei rÅ«pe jÄne, sei tÄhÄ kahe
sakala sambhave kṛṣṇe, kichu mithyÄ nahe
If someone calls Lord RÄmacandra by the vibration Hare RÄma, understanding it to mean “O Lord RÄmacandra!†he is quite right. Similarly, if one says that Hare RÄma means “O ÅšrÄ« BalarÄma!†he is also right. Those who are aware of the viṣṇu-tattva do not fight over all these details.
In the Laghu-bhÄgavatÄmá¹›ta ÅšrÄ«la RÅ«pa GosvÄmÄ« has explained Kṛṣṇa’s being both KṣīrodakaÅ›ÄyÄ« Viṣṇu and NÄrÄyaṇa in the spiritual sky and expanding in the quadruple forms known as VÄsudeva, Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. He has refuted the idea that Kṛṣṇa is an incarnation of NÄrÄyaṇa. Some devotees think that NÄrÄyaṇa is the original Personality of Godhead and that Kṛṣṇa is an incarnation. Even Åšaá¹…karÄcÄrya, in his commentary on the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ, has accepted NÄrÄyaṇa as the transcendental Personality of Godhead who appeared as Kṛṣṇa, the son of DevakÄ« and Vasudeva. Therefore this matter may be difficult to understand. But the Gauá¸Ä«ya Vaiṣṇava-sampradÄya, headed by RÅ«pa GosvÄmÄ«, has established the principle of the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ that everything emanates from Kṛṣṇa, who says in the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ, ahaá¹ sarvasya prabhavaḥ: “I am the original source of everything.†“Everything†includes NÄrÄyaṇa. Therefore RÅ«pa GosvÄmÄ«, in his Laghu-bhÄgavatÄmá¹›ta, has established that Kṛṣṇa, not NÄrÄyaṇa, is the original Personality of Godhead.
In this connection he has quoted a verse from ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (3.2.15) that states:
sva-Å›Änta-rÅ«peá¹£v itaraiḥ svarÅ«pair
abhyardyamÄneá¹£v anukampitÄtmÄ
parÄvareÅ›o mahad-aá¹Å›a-yukto
hy ajo ’pi jÄto bhagavÄn yathÄgniḥ
“When pure devotees of the Lord like Vasudeva are greatly disturbed by dangerous demons like Kaá¹sa, Lord Kṛṣṇa joins with all His pastime expansions, such as the Lord of Vaikuṇá¹ha, and, although unborn, becomes manifest, just as fire becomes manifest by the friction of araṇi wood.†Araṇi wood is used to ignite a sacrificial fire without matches or any other flame. Just as fire appears from araṇi wood, the Supreme Lord appears when there is friction between devotees and nondevotees. When Kṛṣṇa appears, He appears in full, including within Himself all His expansions, such as NÄrÄyaṇa, VÄsudeva, Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa, Aniruddha and Pradyumna. Kṛṣṇa is always integrated with His other incarnations, like Ná¹›siá¹hadeva, VarÄha, VÄmana, Nara-NÄrÄyaṇa, HayagrÄ«va and Ajita. In Vá¹›ndÄvana Lord Kṛṣṇa sometimes exhibits the functions of such incarnations.
In the BrahmÄṇá¸a PurÄṇa it is said, “The same Personality of Godhead who is known in Vaikuṇá¹ha as the four-handed NÄrÄyaṇa, the friend of all living entities, and in the milk ocean as the Lord of ÅšvetadvÄ«pa, and who is the best of all puruá¹£as, appeared as the son of Nanda. In a fire there are many sparks of different dimensions; some of them are very big, and some are small. The small sparks are compared to the living entities, and the large sparks are compared to the Viṣṇu expansions of Lord Kṛṣṇa. All the incarnations emanate from Kṛṣṇa, and after the end of their pastimes they again merge with Kṛṣṇa.â€
Therefore in the various PurÄṇas Kṛṣṇa is described sometimes as NÄrÄyaṇa, sometimes as KṣīrodakaÅ›ÄyÄ« Viṣṇu, sometimes as GarbhodakaÅ›ÄyÄ« Viṣṇu and sometimes as Vaikuṇá¹hanÄtha, the Lord of Vaikuṇá¹ha. Because Kṛṣṇa is always full, MÅ«la-saá¹…kará¹£aṇa is in Kṛṣṇa, and since all incarnations are manifested from MÅ«la-saá¹…kará¹£aṇa, it should be understood that He can manifest different incarnations by His supreme will, even in the presence of Kṛṣṇa. Great sages have therefore glorified the Lord by different names. Thus when the original person, the source of all incarnations, is sometimes described as an incarnation, there is no discrepancy.
