catvÄro vÄsudevÄdyÄ
nÄrÄyaṇa-ná¹›siá¹hakau
hayagrÄ«vo mahÄkroá¸o
brahmÄ ceti navoditÄḥ
catvÄraḥ - four principal protectors; vÄsudeva-ÄdyÄḥ - VÄsudeva, Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha; nÄrÄyaṇa - including Lord NÄrÄyaṇa; ná¹›siá¹hakau - as well as Lord Ná¹›siá¹ha; hayagrÄ«vaḥ - Lord HayagrÄ«va; mahÄkroá¸aḥ - Lord VarÄha; brahmÄ - Lord BrahmÄ; ca - also; iti - thus; nava-uditÄḥ - nine personalities.
“ ‘The nine personalities mentioned are VÄsudeva, Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, NÄrÄyaṇa, Ná¹›siá¹ha, HayagrÄ«va, VarÄha and BrahmÄ.’
This verse is found in the Laghu-bhÄgavatÄmá¹›ta (1.451). The BrahmÄ mentioned herein is not a living entity. Sometimes, when there is a scarcity of living entities to take charge of BrahmÄ’s post, MahÄ-Viṣṇu expands Himself as Lord BrahmÄ. This BrahmÄ is not considered to be a living entity; He is an expansion of Viṣṇu.
