KRISHNA'S SPECIALITY

एते चांशकलाः पुंसः कृष्णस्तु भगवान् स्वयम् ।
इन्द्रारिव्याकुलं लोकं मृडयन्ति युगेयुगे ।। 28।।
TRANSLATION
All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or
portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Çré Kåñëa is the original
Personality of Godhead. All of them appear on planets whenever there is a
disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists.
PURPORT
In this particular stanza Lord Çré Kåñëa, the Personality of Godhead, is
distinguished from other incarnations. He is counted amongst the avatäras
Copyright © 1998 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust Int'l. All Rights Reserved.
(incarnations) because out of His causeless mercy the Lord descends from His
transcendental abode. Avatära means “one who descends.” All the
incarnations of the Lord, including the Lord Himself, descend on the different
planets of the material world as also in different species of life to fulfill
particular missions. Sometimes He comes Himself, and sometimes His different
plenary portions or parts of the plenary portions, or His differentiated portions
directly or indirectly empowered by Him, descend on this material world to
execute certain specific functions. Originally the Lord is full of all opulences,
all prowess, all fame, all beauty, all knowledge and all renunciation. When they
are partly manifested through the plenary portions or parts of the plenary
portions, it should be noted that certain manifestations of His different powers
are required for those particular functions. When in the room small electric
bulbs are displayed, it does not mean that the electric powerhouse is limited by
the small bulbs. The same powerhouse can supply power to operate large-scale
industrial dynamos with greater volts. Similarly, the incarnations of the Lord
display limited powers because so much power is needed at that particular
time.
For example, Lord Paraçuräma and Lord Nåsiàha displayed unusual
opulence by killing the disobedient kñatriyas twenty-one times and killing the
greatly powerful atheist Hiraëyakaçipu. Hiraëyakaçipu was so powerful that
even the demigods in other planets would tremble simply by the unfavorable
raising of his eyebrow. The demigods in the higher level of material existence
many, many times excel the most well-to-do human beings, in duration of life,
beauty, wealth, paraphernalia, and in all other respects. Still they were afraid
of Hiraëyakaçipu. Thus we can simply imagine how powerful Hiraëyakaçipu
was in this material world. But even Hiraëyakaçipu was cut into small pieces by
the nails of Lord Nåsiàha. This means that anyone materially powerful cannot
stand the strength of the Lord’s nails. Similarly, Jämadagnya displayed the
Lord’s power to kill all the disobedient kings powerfully situated in their
respective states. The Lord’s empowered incarnation Närada and plenary
incarnation Varäha, as well as indirectly empowered Lord Buddha, created
faith in the mass of people. The incarnations of Räma and Dhanvantari
displayed His fame, and Balaräma, Mohiné and Vämana exhibited His beauty.
Copyright © 1998 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust Int'l. All Rights Reserved.
Dattätreya, Matsya, Kumära and Kapila exhibited His transcendental
knowledge. Nara and Näräyaëa Åñis exhibited His renunciation. So all the
different incarnations of the Lord indirectly or directly manifested different
features, but Lord Kåñëa, the primeval Lord, exhibited the complete features of
Godhead, and thus it is confirmed that He is the source of all other
incarnations. And the most extraordinary feature exhibited by Lord Çré Kåñëa
was His internal energetic manifestation of His pastimes with the cowherd
girls. His pastimes with the gopés are all displays of transcendental existence,
bliss and knowledge, although these are manifested apparently as sex love. The
specific attraction of His pastimes with the gopés should never be
misunderstood. The Bhägavatam relates these transcendental pastimes in the
Tenth Canto. And in order to reach the position to understand the
transcendental nature of Lord Kåñëa’s pastimes with the gopés, the Bhägavatam
promotes the student gradually in nine other cantos.
According to Çréla Jéva Gosvämé’s statement, in accordance with
authoritative sources, Lord Kåñëa is the source of all other incarnations. It is
not that Lord Kåñëa has any source of incarnation. All the symptoms of the
Supreme Truth in full are present in the person of Lord Çré Kåñëa, and in the
Bhagavad-gétä the Lord emphatically declares that there is no truth greater
than or equal to Himself. In this stanza the word svayam is particularly
mentioned to confirm that Lord Kåñëa has no other source than Himself.
Although in other places the incarnations are described as bhagavän because
of their specific functions, nowhere are they declared to be the Supreme
Personality. In this stanza the word svayam signifies the supremacy as the
summum bonum.
The summum bonum Kåñëa is one without a second. He Himself has
expanded Himself in various parts, portions and particles as svayaà-rüpa,
svayam-prakäça, tad-ekätmä, präbhava, vaibhava, viläsa, avatära, äveça, and
jévas, all provided with innumerable energies just suitable to the respective
persons and personalities. Learned scholars in transcendental subjects have
carefully analyzed the summum bonum Kåñëa to have sixty-four principal
attributes. All the expansions or categories of the Lord possess only some
percentages of these attributes. But Çré Kåñëa is the possessor of the attributes
Copyright © 1998 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust Int'l. All Rights Reserved.
cent percent. And His personal expansions such as svayam-prakäça, tad-ekätmä
up to the categories of the avatäras who are all viñëu-tattva, possess up to
ninety-three percent of these transcendental attributes. Lord Çiva, who is
neither avatära nor äveça nor in between them, possesses almost eighty-four
percent of the attributes. But the jévas, or the individual living beings in
different statuses of life, possess up to the limit of seventy-eight percent of the
attributes. In the conditioned state of material existence, the living being
possesses these attributes in very minute quantity, varying in terms of the
pious life of the living being. The most perfect of living beings is Brahmä, the
supreme administrator of one universe. He possesses seventy-eight percent of
the attributes in full. All other demigods have the same attributes in less
quantity, whereas human beings possess the attributes in very minute quantity.
The standard of perfection for a human being is to develop the attributes up to
seventy-eight percent in full. The living being can never possess attributes like
Çiva, Viñëu or Lord Kåñëa. A living being can become godly by developing the
seventy-eight-percent transcendental attributes in fullness, but he can never
become a God like Çiva, Viñëu or Kåñëa. He can become a Brahmä in due
course. The godly living beings who are all residents of the planets in the
spiritual sky are eternal associates of God in different spiritual planets called
Hari-dhäma and Maheça-dhäma. The abode of Lord Kåñëa above all spiritual
planets is called Kåñëaloka or Goloka Våndävana, and the perfected living
being, by developing seventy-eight percent of the above attributes in fullness,
can enter the planet of Kåñëaloka after leaving the present material body.