haá¹saḥ suparṇo vaikuṇá¹ho
dharmo yogeśvaro 'malaḥ
īśvaraḥ puruṣo 'vyaktaḥ
paramÄtmeti gÄ«yate
haá¹saḥ - the transcendental swan; su-parṇaḥ - whose wings are very beautiful; vaikuṇá¹haḥ - the Lord of the spiritual kingdom; dharmaḥ - the maintainer of religion; yoga-īśvaraḥ - the master of all mystic perfection; amalaḥ - immaculate; īśvaraḥ - the supreme controller; puruá¹£aḥ - the supreme enjoying male; avyaktaḥ - the unmanifest; parama-ÄtmÄ - the Supersoul in the heart of every living being; iti - thus; gÄ«yate - His names are variously chanted.
The sage KarabhÄjana Muni is replying to VideharÄja Nimi’s questions about the varieties of the Lord’s incarnations. In Satya-yuga the Lord’s color is white, and He wears tree bark and a black deerskin as an ideal meditative brahmacÄrÄ«. ÅšrÄ«la BhaktisiddhÄnta SarasvatÄ« ṬhÄkura has explained the Lord’s various names in Satya-yuga as follows. Those who are self-realized know this supreme reality of the Personality of Godhead as ParamÄtmÄ. Those souls who are situated in the religious system of varṇÄÅ›rama glorify Him as the haá¹sa who is transcendental to all the varṇas and ÄÅ›ramas. Persons absorbed in gross matter consider Him to be Suparṇa, “the beautifully winged†basis of the conceptions of cause and effect who flies within the subtle sky of the soul, as described in ChÄndogya Upaniá¹£ad. Persons accustomed to wandering within this universe of subtle and gross matter created by the Lord’s illusory potency chant His name Vaikuṇá¹ha. Persons deprived of the power of transcendental meditation (dhÄraṇÄ), who are thus subject to falling from the path of religion, glorify Him as Dharma, or religion personified. Those who are forced to submit to the illusory modes of material nature and whose minds are uncontrolled and disturbed glorify Him as the most perfectly self-controlled YogeÅ›vara. Persons tainted by a mixture of the modes of passion and ignorance call Him Amala, or the uncontaminated. Persons devoid of potency call Him Īśvara, and those who consider themselves to be under His shelter chant His glories by the name Uttama Puruá¹£a. Those who know that this material manifestation is only temporary call Him Avyakta. In this way, in Satya-yuga Lord VÄsudeva appears in various four-armed transcendental forms, and the jÄ«va souls worship Him, each by their own particular process of devotional service. Therefore the Supreme Lord has many different names.