Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.245–255

Prabhupāda:

avatāra haya kṛṣṅera ṣaḍ-vidha prakāra puruṣāvatāra eka, līlāvatāra āra [Cc Madhya 20.245]

[There are six types of incarnations [avatāras] of Kṛṣṅa. One comprises the incarnations of Viṣṅu [puruṣa-avatāras], and another comprises the incarnations meant for the performance of pastimes [līlā-avatāras]]

guṅāvatāra, āra manvantarāvatāra yugāvatāra, āra śaktyāveśāvatāra [Cc Madhya 20.246]

[There are incarnations that control the material qualities [guṅa-avatāras], incarnations associated with the reign of each Manu [manvantara-avatāras], incarnations in different millenniums [yuga-avatāras] and incarnations of empowered living entities [śaktyāveśa-avatāras]]

Now, we have been discussing about incarnations. These incarnations are concerned so far the maintenance of the material world is required. In the spiritual world there is no incarnation. There is a permanent situation of the spiritual planets, and in different planets, He, Kṛṣṅa, has different expansions under different symbolic representation, and they are differently named. There is no change.

But in the material world, when we speak of incarnation, that is in relationship with this material world. In this... For the material world these incarnations are expanded. And what are they? First the puruṣāvatāra; then līlāvatāra; then guṅāvatāra, three; then manvantarāvatāra, four; then yugāvatāra, five; and then śaktyāveśāvatāra. Śaktyāveśāvatāra.

So these incarnations are manifested at different times according to the need. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated,

yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata abhyutthānam adharmasya tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham [Bg 4.7]

[Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend Myself.]

There is a system. In the process of this material world there is a system. Just like for maintenance of your State, United State, there is system of government, and there is an aim. Just like your government does not like that..., there should be no..., there should be no Communistic persons. And you write that "We trust in God." It is better to trust in God. You have got a system. Similarly, the maintenance of the whole material world, there is a system. It is not blind.

Foolish creatures, they think that everything has come out of nothing, and it is being managed by nature. No. Behind nature there is God. In the Bhagavad-gītā you have learned, mayādhyakṣeṅa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram [Bg 9.10]:

[This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.]

"Under My superintendence the material nature is working." Material nature is not blind. Just like foolish person, because he cannot see President Johnson and the governmental personalities, they think, "It is going on. Nobody is there behind this government, and it is going on."

So similarly, persons who have no knowledge in the affairs of this material world, they think that "This material nature is working, and automatically, by magic, the sun is coming out, the moon is coming out, and the season is changing, and everything is going on just like magic, and we are the master of everything." Never think..., these foolish persons never think that they are not masters, they are servant, servant of the material nature. So that is their foolishness.

Therefore, when there is too much foolishness, so there is need of avatāra, incarnation, to correct. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati. Whenever there is, I mean to say, discrepancies in the maintenance of law and order of this material nature, there is need of avatāra, incarnation. Because it is God's kingdom, it is also secondary kingdom—real kingdom in the spiritual world—so God comes in different avatāra.

And when the material world is created, the first avatāra is puruṣa-avatāra. The Mahā-Viṣṅu, Garbhodakaśāyī, They create. And then līlāvatāra. Līlāvatāra, under some particular circumstances, to save some particular devotee or to display some particular feature... Just like Lord Rāma, He incarnated. He is līlāvatāra. Then guṅāvatāra. For maintenance of this material world there are different kinds of modes of nature, and to control those modes of nature there are avatāra: Brahmā, Viṣṅu, Maheśvara. Līlāvatāra. Then manvantarāvatāra. The changes of millenniums, that manvantarāvatāra. And then yugāvatāras, yugāvatāra, in each and every yuga. Just like this Kali-yuga. This is called Kali-yuga. In the Kali-yuga the incarnation is Lord Caitanya.

It is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam... There is a chapter. Nava-yogendra, nine great mystics, met one very powerful king, and they explained, each and every one of them, they explained about spiritual things. And there was a transcendentalist amongst them. Amongst the nine personalities, there was one whose name was Camasa Muni. The Camasa Muni said... That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. When he was asked by Viveha Mahārāja, the king Viveha, "What is the avatāra of this Kali-yuga, especial?" then he mentioned,

kṛṣṅa-varṅaṁ tviṣākṛṣṅaṁ sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ [SB 11.5.32]

[In the Age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the names of Kṛṣṅa. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Kṛṣṅa Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions.]

"Now, in this age of Kali-yuga, there will be avatāra, incarnation, who is Kṛṣṅa, but His color of the body is not black." That is Lord Caitanya.

Lord Caitanya was very fair complexion, nice-looking. So kṛṣṅa-varṅaṁ tviṣā. Tviṣā, by complexion, He is not Kṛṣṅa, but He is Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa-varṅam tviṣākṛṣṅam and sāṅgo 'pāṅgāstra-pārṣadam. And He is associated by His confidential, I mean to say, devotees. You'll find Lord Caitanya always crowded by His devotees. Always. His dancing mode—you have seen the picture. Special associates, that Advaita, Gadādhara, Nityānanda. So that incarnation, who is Kṛṣṅa, but His color, His complexion, is not black, but He is associated with devotees... And the process of worshiping that incarnation is to chant Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa Kṛṣṅa, Hare Hare.

So in this yuga, in this Kali-yuga, incarnation is Lord Caitanya, and the process of worship is this sound vibration. That is mentioned. In every avatāra, every incarnation... Just like Lord Buddha. His name is also mentioned. And there will be another incarnation, Kalki. That is also mentioned. So they are mentioned, yugāvatāra. And śaktyāveśāvatāra. Śaktyāveśāvatāra. All avatāras, their mission is to preach the message of God. Avatāra has no other business. The message of God. Śaktyāveśāvatāra.

This Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa Kṛṣṅa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, this is also considered śaktyāveśāvatāra, the incarnation of sound. Incarnation of sound. It is described by Lord Caitanya that kali-kāle nāma rūpe avatāra [Cc Ādi 17.22]:

[All glories to Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu! All glories to Lord Nityānanda Prabhu! All glories to Advaita Ācārya! And all glories to all the devotees of Lord Caitanya!]

"In this Kali-yuga, in this age, this incarnation of name—Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa Kṛṣṅa, Hare Hare—to give facility to the conditioned soul." They cannot do anything. It is very difficult to perform any other religious rituals. This, the best anywhere, everywhere—you can chant Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa. Nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktih [Cc Antya 20.16].

[My Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, in Your holy name there is all good fortune for the living entity, and therefore You have many names, such as ”Kṛṣṅa” and ”Govinda,” by which You expand Yourself. You have invested all Your potencies in those names, and there are no hard and fast rules for remembering them. My dear Lord, although You bestow such mercy upon the fallen, conditioned souls by liberally teaching Your holy names, I am so unfortunate that I commit offenses while chanting the holy name, and therefore I do not achieve attachment for chanting.]

Śakti, this word is used, śakti. And from śakti, that energy, śaktyāveśāvatāra. So this name is also śaktyāveśāvatāra.

bālya, paugaṅḍa haya vigrahera dharma eta-rūpe līlā karena vrajendra-nandana [Cc Madhya 20.247]

And when Kṛṣṅa personally comes, His..., He can be seen in two features, bālya, paugaṅḍa: His childhood and boyhood, up to sixteenth year. That is the real feature of Kṛṣṅa, kiśora. And further features, that is expansion of Kṛṣṅa, Vāsudeva. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti [Bg 7.19].

[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]

ananta avatāra kṛṣṅera, nāhika gaṅana śākhā-candra-nyāya kari dig-daraśana [Cc Madhya 20.248]

[There are innumerable incarnations of Kṛṣṅa, and there is no possibility of counting them. We can simply indicate them by giving the example of the moon and the branches of a tree.]

avatārā hy asaṅkhyeyā hareḥ sattva-nidher dvijāḥ yathā 'vidāsinaḥ kulyāḥ sarasaḥ syuḥ sahasraśaḥ [Cc Madhya 20.249]

[O learned brāhmaṅas, just as hundreds and thousands of small rivulets issue from great reservoirs of water, innumerable incarnations flow from Śrī Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the reservoir of all power.]

Now, He is concluding about the topics of incarnation, that "There are innumerable incarnations of Kṛṣṅa. Nobody can count." He is giving the example: just like nobody can count how many waves are flowing in the river or in the ocean, similarly, it is impossible to count how many incarnation are there.

prathamei kare kṛṣṅa 'puruṣāvatāra' seita puruṣa haya trividha prakāra' [Cc Madhya 20.250]

[In the beginning, Kṛṣṅa incarnates Himself as the puruṣa-avatāras, or Viṣṅu incarnations. These are of three types.]

Now, the first avatāra, first incarnation, is the puruṣāvatāra. He divides Himself into three. This is stated in the Viṣṅu Purāṅa:

viṣṅos tu trīṅi rūpāṅi puruṣākhyāny atho viduḥ ekaṁ tu mahataḥ sraṣṭṛ dvitīyaṁ tv aṅḍa-saṁsthitam tṛtīyaṁ sarva-bhūta-sthaṁ tāni jñātvā vimucyate [Cc Madhya 20.251]

[Viṣṅu has three forms called puruṣas. The first, Mahā-Viṣṅu, is the creator of the total material energy [mahat], the second is Garbhodaśāyī, who is situated within each universe, and the third is Kṣīrodaśāyī, who lives in the heart of every living being. He who knows these three becomes liberated from the clutches of māyā.]

Tāni jñātvā vimucyate. Now, in the Bhagavad-gītā you have read that,

janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya [Bg 4.9]

[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]

Anyone who understands about the appearance and disappearance of God or His incarnation, simply by understanding this, one is liberated. And that person who understands, after quitting this material body, no more he comes here, but he goes back to Godhead to become one of His associates. Such persons who knows about the incarnations, they are not impersonalist. Therefore they do not merge in the impersonal Brahman feature, but they go to the different spiritual planets.

So, viṣṅos tu trīṅi rūpāṅi: "That Viṣṅu, for the creation of this material world, takes into three forms," trīṅi rūpāṅi. Viṣṅos tu trīṅi rūpāṅi purusākhyāny atho viduḥ: "And all of them are known as puruṣāvatāra." Mahā-Viṣṅu puruṣāvatāra, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṅu puruṣāvatāra and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṅu puruṣāvatāra. They are called puruṣāvatāra. Ekaṁ tu mahataḥ sraṣṭṛ: "And the first puruṣāvatāra, who is called Mahā-Viṣṅu, He creates the material ingredients, which is called mahat-tattva."

Everything requires ingredient. So the, I mean to say, original ingredients, the, what is called, subtle ingredients, they were created first by this Mahā-Viṣṅu. Then, from those ingredients, universes were produced. And each universe, ekaṁ tu mahataḥ dvitīyaṁ tv aṅḍa-saṁsthitam. The first puruṣāvatāra, Mahā-Viṣṅu, creates the ingredients, and the second Mahā-Viṣṅu enters in each and every universe. He is called dvitīya. And tṛtīyaṁ sarva-bhūta-stham: "And the third, He enters into the body of all living entities, Paramātmā, or the Supersoul." This is the division of three first incarnation.

ananta-śakti-madhye kṛṣṅera tina śakti pradhāna 'icchā-śakti', 'kriyā-śakti', 'jñāna-śakti' nāma [Cc Madhya 20.252]

[Kṛṣṅa has unlimited potencies, out of which three are chief—willpower, the power of knowledge and the creative energy.]

Now, Kṛṣṅa has immense potencies, which are divided into three. What is that? Icchā-śakti, kriyā-śakti, jñāna-śakti. Icchā-śakti means His potency, whatever He wishes, that can be done, icchā. Kriyā-śakti: then activity, kriyā-śakti. And jñāna-śakti, knowledge. Knowledge.

In the Vedic literature it is said, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8].

[The Supreme Lord has nothing to do. Nothing is equal to Him or greater than Him. He acts in different phases by manifesting His parts and parcels, which are all simultaneously differently situated by His unlimited, variegated potencies. Each potency acts quite naturally in sequences, providing Him full knowledge, power and pastimes.]

Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. Just like one potency is working, producing flowers. Producing flowers. We are seeing that a flower is being produced automatically, so nicely painted, so nicely colored. But because we are fools, therefore we think it is being produced automatically. No. It is produced by the kriyā-śakti, by the active potency of God, kriyā-śakti. Jñāna-śakti: and there is such perfect knowledge that nobody can see any defect.

You see a butterfly, how it is nicely painted. You just see duplicate in both the wings. Just like an artist paint nicely, it is painted. So we think it is coming out of nothing. This is our foolishness. Here is, that it is coming out of the jñāna-śakti. But His jñāna is so wide that simply by His desire, simply by His will, it can be executed. These are the things to be studied. Because we cannot see something before our eyes, that does not mean there is no existence. There is existence, but we do not know how one is working. How one is working. Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā.

Just like you see the physiolo..., anatomical condition of your body. Now, how this body is produced, how nicely, that every mechanical arrangement, the [indistinct], and the... Just like a big factory and big office. The brain is the office and stomach is the factory, and it is creating energy, it is coming to the heart and another place... Just like soap factory. Sometimes, in some place, it is being..., some part of the manufacture is finished, another... In this way it is going on. But it is coming out a small pea. And how it is developing. In everything you can see. You take a seed, how it develops, a great tree. How much potency is there.

So svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. Everything is being done. I do not know. I claim, "It is my body," but I do not know how even a hair is growing. I do not know how it is replaced. I cut in the morning, and the next day I see again there is. So these things are going on. Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca. We have to study God's activity in this way, so many things, nature's study. So those who are intelligent, they can see that these things are working. What is that? Icchā-śakti, kriyā-śakti, jñāna-śakti, these three potencies of God, Kṛṣṅa, is working.

icchā-śakti-pradhāna kṛṣṅa-icchāya sarva-kartā jñāna-śakti-pradhāna vāsudeva adhiṣṭhātā [Cc Madhya 20.253]

[The predominator of the willing potency is Lord Kṛṣṅa, for by His supreme will everything comes into existence. In willing, there is a need for knowledge, and that knowledge is expressed through Vāsudeva.]

Now, out of these three different potencies, then Kṛṣṅa expands Himself also to conduct or to control or to act on these three potential power. The icchā-śakti, willing potency, that is being controlled by Kṛṣṅa, and, er, jñāna-śakti, that is being controlled by His expansion which is known as Vāsudeva.

Icchā-jñāna vinā nā haya sṛjana. Without desire and without knowledge, nothing can be created. Nothing. Suppose we are manufacturing so many things. Now, the manufacturer is first of all thinking, willing, that "This sort of thing, if we manufacture, it will be very nicely sold in the market." That is icchā-śakti. Then he acts, acts on it. That is called jñāna-śakti. Without jñāna, without willing, nothing is produced. So whenever you find something produced, you must know behind that production there is that will, the supreme will, the supreme knowledge. This is study.

Icchā-śakti-jñāna...

icchā-jñāna vinā nā haya sṛjana tinera tina-śakti meli' prapañca-racana [Cc Madhya 20.254]

[There is no possibility of creation without thinking, feeling, willing, knowledge and activity. The combination of the supreme will, knowledge and action brings about the cosmic manifestation.]

So this icchā-śakti, this potency of will, supreme will, and the potency of supreme hand and the potency of supreme knowledge, these three things are conducting all affairs in this material world.

kriyā-śakti-pradhāna saṅkarṣaṅa balarāma prākṛtāprākṛta-sṛṣṭi karena nirmāṅa [Cc Madhya 20.255]

[Lord Saṅkarṣaṅa is Lord Balarāma. Being the predominator of the creative energy, He creates both the material and the spiritual world.]

And the potency of activity, that is being done by the expansion of Saṅkarṣaṅa, either in this material world or in the spiritual world. So parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8].

[The Supreme Lord has nothing to do. Nothing is equal to Him or greater than Him. He acts in different phases by manifesting His parts and parcels, which are all simultaneously differently situated by His unlimited, variegated potencies. Each potency acts quite naturally in sequences, providing Him full knowledge, power and pastimes.]

In this way the Lord is working in so many ways, and because we have no knowledge, we think that "There is no brain behind it. There is no knowledge behind it. Everything is coming out automatically, and we are the master of everything." That is called illusion. So by Kṛṣṅa consciousness, you will be free from this illusion, and you will know how God is working by His different potential power.

Thank you very much. Any question? [end]