So
what can we say about this wonderful Supreme Person? Endless things.
Since He's eternal and has all power, the list of His wondrous deeds
is never-ending. Plus, He has the ability to separate out endless
portions of Himself, who have different percentages of His
transcendental qualities. Just as a few quick examples: when He
appeared as Nara-Narayana Rsis, His renunciation was exhibited, and
His transcendental knowledge could be seen in the form of Kapiladeva.
When He appeared as Mohini-murti, His beauty was displayed. Then
sometimes He invests His superhuman power to do a particular thing
within a jiva soul, and such
personalities are known as saktyavesa avataras. (This
is different from the mere attainment of yogic siddhis
by a jiva soul; it's
far more magnificent, glorious and special. Any type of avatara
must be certified as authentic by the scriptural prediction of His or
Her appearance and the recognition by pure, saintly souls of certain
specific unmistakable symptoms of the personal presence of the Lord.
In the correct system, there is no room for cheating charlatans or
impostors, who can't help anyone, to set themselves up as avataras
and get worshiped.) King Prthu, for example, was
invested with the Lord's ability to rule; the Lord's literary
abilities were invested in Srila Vyasadeva. Each of these
incarnations – of the Lord Himself or of His power – has His or
Her own special set of wondrous transcendental activities that go on
forever and ever, which just multiplies the already mind-boggling
abundance of subject matter. In Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.3.26, the
ceaseless appearance of the Lord in multifarious glorious
incarnations to the different species of life in all the numberless
material universes is likened to the endless flow of waterfalls. How then can His appearances and activities even be counted, much less described?
Still, in the Srimad-Bhagavatam,
a condensed list of some of the most important incarnations of the
Lord and a brief summary of His activities in each of these
appearances is given. Then finally, at the end, it is said: ete
camsa-kala pumsah krsnas tu bhagavan svayam –
“All these others are His portions and portions of portions, but
Sri Krsna is Bhagavan Himself.” So although the Lord has unlimited
avataras exhibiting
various levels of His opulences, His original and all-inclusive form,
endowed with cent percent of all existing opulences, is Sri Gopal
Krsna – the transcendentally charming prince of cowherds. In that
original form He is the Rasaraja, or the fountainhead and enjoyer of
all loving
relationship moods and flavors. The well-known one of His being the
master and others being His servants is also present in Him like it
is in all forms of the Lord (i.e. there are some souls whose eternal
constitutional position is to serve their Lord Gopal Krsna with
reverence), but in addition to that, Sri Krsna exhibits more intimate
relationships such as close informal friendship (as if between
equals) with His incalculably fortunate cowherd-boy companions, the
sweet and tender child-parent relationship between Him and those
devotees who have a strongly protective mood toward Him, and conjugal
relationships with those who have an intense romantic attraction
toward Him. ALL the forms of the Lord are included within Him. He's
the most complete and irresistibly attractive form of God.
But He also likes
to take other forms according to the special tastes that various
devotees of His yearn to enjoy. Some of His devotees appreciate the
flavor of His pastimes as Lord Ramacandra most of all; some long to
behold Him as peaceful four-armed Narayana, adorable Vamanadeva, or
thrillingly ferocious Nrsimhadeva. Just like an actor who is the
same person no matter what costume he may appear in, in each one of
these eternal forms (which each have their own particular sets of
associates, pastimes, and purifying holy names based thereupon), He
is still the same HARI. And in each one of these unlimited varieties
of forms, Lord Hari presides over a designated eternal,
self-effulgent Vaikuntha planet within the spiritual sky, populated
with all those never-endingly blissful spirit souls who find it their
natural propensity to serve Him in that particular form of His.
Goloka Vrndavana (where Sri Gopal Krsna resides) and Navadvipa-dhama
(the realm of Lord Caitanya) are His topmost holy abodes, followed by
Mathura-dhama, Dvaraka-dhama, and Ayodhya-dhama. Beneath these, all
the other brilliant Vaikuntha planets spread out limitlessly.
The narrations of the names, pastimes and qualities of all the forms of
the Lord and His devoted servants, besides being very interesting,
are so purifying that in a very short time of hearing offenselessly,
we will begin to experience our natural state of intoxicatingly sweet
attraction to Him, and corresponding fearlessness of this world.
Srimad-Bhagavatam
10.31.9 (the famous tava kathamrtam verse
from the songs of the gopis)
was translated by Srila Prabhupada as follows in Caitanya-caritamrta,
Madhya 14.13:
“My Lord, the nectar of
Your words and the descriptions of Your activities are the life and
soul of those who are always aggrieved in this material world. These
narrations are transmitted by exalted personalities, and they
eradicate all sinful reactions. Whoever hears these narrations
attains all good fortune. These narrations are broadcast all over
the world and are filled with spiritual power. Those who spread the
message of Godhead are certainly the most munificent welfare
workers.”
All glory to the Supreme Lord and His associates for enacting all these
nectarean pastimes! All glory to the bhurida
janah, those
most munificent welfare workers who broadcast the topics of Lord Hari
and His devotees! And all glory to the punya-sravana-kirtanah,
the hearing
and chanting of that purifying subject matter!
Param vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam!
