api devarᚣiášÄdiᚣášaḼ
sa kÄlo 'yam upasthitaḼ
yadÄtmano 'áš gam ÄkrÄŤá¸aáš
bhagavÄn utsisáškᚣati
api - whether; deva-ášášŁiášÄ - by the demigod-saint (NÄrada); ÄdiᚣášaḼ - instructed; saḼ - that; kÄlaḼ - eternal time; ayam - this; upasthitaḼ - arrived; yadÄ - when; ÄtmanaḼ - of His own self; aáš gam - plenary portion; ÄkrÄŤá¸am - manifestation; bhagavÄn - the Personality of Godhead; utsisáškᚣati - is going to quit.
As we have discussed many times, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord ĹrÄŤ KášášŁáša, has many plenary expansions, and each and every one of them, although equally powerful, executes different functions. In Bhagavad-gÄŤtÄ there are different statements by the Lord, and each of these statements is meant for different plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions. For example, ĹrÄŤ KášášŁáša, the Lord, says in Bhagavad-gÄŤtÄ:
âWhenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion â at that time I descend Myself.â (Bg. 4.7)
âTo deliver the faithful, to annihilate the miscreants and also to reestablish the principles of occupational duty, I appear in every age.â (Bg. 4.8)
âIf I should cease to work, then all humanity would be misdirected. I would also be the cause of creating unwanted population, and I would thereby destroy the peace of all sentient beings.â (Bg. 3.24)
âWhatever action a great man performs, common men will follow. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.â (Bg. 3.21)
All the above statements by the Lord apply to different plenary portions of the Lord, namely His expansions such as Saáš karᚣaáša, VÄsudeva, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and NÄrÄyaáša. These are all He Himself in different transcendental expansions, and still the Lord as ĹrÄŤ KášášŁáša functions in a different sphere of transcendental exchange with different grades of devotees. And yet Lord KášášŁáša as He is appears once every twenty-four hours of BrahmÄâs time (or after a lapse of 8,640,000,000 solar years) in each and every universe, and all His transcendental pastimes are displayed in each and every universe in a routine spool. But in that routine spool the functions of Lord KášášŁáša, Lord VÄsudeva, etc., are complex problems for the layman. There is no difference between the Lordâs Self and the Lordâs transcendental body. The expansions execute differential activities. When the Lord, however, appears in His person as Lord ĹrÄŤ KášášŁáša, His other plenary portions also join in Him by His inconceivable potency called yogamÄyÄ, and thus the Lord KášášŁáša of VášndÄvana is different from the Lord KášášŁáša of MathurÄ or the Lord KášášŁáša of DvÄrakÄ. The virÄáš-rĹŤpa of Lord KášášŁáša is also different from Him, by His inconceivable potency. The virÄáš-rĹŤpa exhibited on the Battlefield of Kurukᚣetra is the material conception of His form. Therefore it should be understood that when Lord KášášŁáša was apparently killed by the bow and arrow of the hunter, the Lord left His so-called material body in the material world. The Lord is kaivalya, and for Him there is no difference between matter and spirit because everything is created from Him. Therefore His quitting one sort of body or accepting another body does not mean that He is like the ordinary living being. All such activities are simultaneously one and different by His inconceivable potency. When MahÄrÄja Yudhiᚣášhira was lamenting the possibility of His disappearance, it was just in pursuance of a custom of lamenting the disappearance of a great friend, but factually the Lord never quits His transcendental body, as is misconceived by less intelligent persons. Such less intelligent persons have been condemned by the Lord Himself in Bhagavad-gÄŤtÄ, and they are known as the mĹŤá¸has. That the Lord left His body means that He left again His plenary portions in the respective dhÄmas (transcendental abodes), as He left His virÄáš-rĹŤpa in the material world.