TLC 6: His Forms Are One and the Same
Chapter Six: His Forms Are One and the Same
By devotional service one can understand that Krsna first of all manifests
Himself as svayam-rupa, His personal form, then as tadekatma-rupa, and
then as avesa-rupa.
It is in these three features that He manifests Himself in His transcendental form.
The feature of svayam-rupa is the form by which Krsna can be understood by one who
may not understand His other features.
In other words, the form by which Krsna is directly understood
is called svayam-rupa, or His personal form.
The tadekatma-rupa is that form which most resembles the svayam-rupa,
but there are some differences in the bodily features.
The tadekatma-rupa is divided into two manifestations -- the personal expansion (svamsa)
and the pastime expansion (vilasa).
As far as the avesa-rupa is concerned, when Krsna
empowers some suitable living entity to represent Him, that living entity
is called avesa-rupa, or saktyavesa-avatara.
The personal form of Krsna can be divided into two: svayam-rupa and
svayam-prakasa.
As far as His svayam-rupa (or pastime form) is concerned,
it is in that form that He remains always in Vrndavana with the
inhabitants of Vrndavana.
This personal form (svayam-rupa) can be further divided into the prabhava and vaibhava forms.
For instance, Krsna expanded Himself in multiple forms during the rasa
dance in order to dance with each and every gopi who took part in
forms in order to accommodate His 16,108 wives.
There are some instances of great mystics' also expanding
their bodily features in different ways, but Krsna did not expand Himself
by any yoga process.
Each expansion of Krsna was a separate individual.
In Vedic history, Saubhari Rsi, a sage, expanded
himself into eight forms by the yoga process, but Saubhari Rsi remained
one.
As far as Krsna is concerned, when He manifested Himself in different
forms, each and every one of them was a separate individual.
When Narada Muni visited Krsna at different palaces at Dvaraka, he was astonished
at this, and yet Narada is never astonished to see expansions of a yogi's
body, since he knows the trick himself.
Yet in Srimad-Bhagavatam it is stated that Narada was
actually astonished to see the expansions of Krsna.
He wondered how the Lord was present with His queens in each and
every one of His 16,108 palaces.
With each queen, Krsna Himself was in a different form, and He
was acting in different ways.
In one form He was engaged in playing with His children, and in yet another form He was
performing some household work.
These different activities are conducted by the Lord when He is in
His "emotional" forms, which are known as vaibhava-prakasa expansions.
Similarly, there are other unlimited expansions of the forms of Krsna, but
even when they are divided or expanded without limit, they are still one
and the same.
There is no difference between one form and another.
That is the absolute nature of the Supreme Personality
of Godhead.
In Srimad-Bhagavatam it is stated that when Akrura was accompanying both
Krsna and Balarama from Gokula to Mathura, he entered into the waters of
the Yamuna River and could see in the waters all the planets in the
spiritual sky.
He also saw there the Lord in His Visnu form as well as
Narada and the four Kumaras, who were worshiping Him.
As stated in the Bhagavata Purana (SB 10.40.7):
anye ca samskrtatmano vidhinabhihitena te
yajanti tvan-mayas tvam vai bahumurty-ekamurtikam
There are many worshipers who are purified by different processes of
worship -- such as the Vaisnavas or the Aryans -- who also worship the
Supreme Lord according to their convictions and spiritual understanding.
Each process of worship involves understanding different forms of the
Lord, as mentioned in scriptures, but the ultimate idea is to worship the
Supreme Lord Himself.
In His vaibhava-prakasa feature, the Lord manifests Himself as Balarama.
The Balarama feature is as good as Krsna Himself, the only difference
being that the bodily hue of Krsna is dark and that of Balarama is fair.
The vaibhava-prakasa form was also displayed when Krsna appeared before
His Mother Devaki in the four-handed form of Narayana, just when He
entered the world.
At the request of His parents, however, He transformed
Himself into a two-handed form.
Thus He sometimes manifests four hands and sometimes two.
The two-handed form is actually vaibhava-prakasa, and the
four-handed form is prabhava-prakasa.
In His personal form, Krsna is just like a cowherd boy, and He thinks of Himself
in that way.
But when He is in the Vasudeva form, He thinks of Himself
as the son of a ksatriya and acts as a princely administrator.
In the two-handed form, as the cowherd son of Nanda Maharaja, Krsna fully
exhibits His opulence, form, beauty, wealth, attractiveness and pastimes.
Indeed, in some of the Vaisnava literatures it is found that sometimes, in
His form as Vasudeva, He becomes attracted to the form of Govinda in
Vrndavana.
Thus as Vasudeva He sometimes desires to enjoy as the cowherd
boy Govinda does, although the Govinda form and the Vasudeva form are one
and the same.
In this regard, there is a passage in the Fourth Chapter of
the Lalita-madhava (4.19), in which Krsna addresses Uddhava as follows:
"My dear friend, the form of Govinda, the cowherd boy, attracts Me.
Indeed, I wish to be like the damsels of Vraja, who are also attracted by
this form of Govinda."
Similarly, in the Eighth Chapter, Krsna says: "O
how wonderful it is!
Who is this person?
After seeing Him, I am so attracted that I am now desiring to embrace
Him just like Radhika."
There are also forms of Krsna which are a little different, and these are
called tadekatma-rupa forms.
These may be further divided into the vilasa and svamsa forms, which in turn have many
different features and can be divided into prabhava and vaibhava forms.
As far as the vilasa forms are concerned, there are innumerable prabhava-vilasas
by which Krsna expands Himself as Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna,
and Aniruddha.
Sometimes the Lord thinks of Himself as a cowherd boy, and
sometimes He thinks of Himself as the son of Vasudeva, a ksatriya
prince, and this "thinking" of Krsna is called His "pastimes."
Actually He is in the same form in His vaibhava-prakasa and prabhava-vilasa, but
He appears differently as Balarama and Krsna.
His expansions as Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and
Aniruddha are in the original catur-vyuha, or four-handed forms.
There are innumerable four-handed manifestations in different planets and
different places, and they are manifested in Dvaraka and Mathura
eternally.
From the four principal four-handed forms (Vasudeva,
Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha) there are manifest the principal
twenty-four forms called vaibhava-vilasa, and they are named differently
according to the placement of different symbols (conch, mace, lotus and
disc) in their hands.
The four principal manifestations of Krsna are found
in each planet in the spiritual sky, and these planets are called
Narayanaloka or Vaikunthaloka.
In the Vaikunthaloka He is manifested in the four-handed form of Narayana.
From each Narayana the forms of Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha
are manifested.
Thus Narayana is the center, and the four forms
of Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha surround the Narayana
form.
Each of these four forms again expand into three, and these all
have different names, beginning with Kesava.
These forms are twelve in all, and they are known
by different names according to the placement of symbols in their hands.
As far as the Vasudeva form is concerned, the three expansions manifested
from Him are Kesava, Narayana and Madhava.
The three forms of Sankarsana are known as Govinda, Visnu and Sri Madhusudana.
(It should be noted, however, that this Govinda form is not the
same Govinda form that is manifested in Vrndavana as the son of Nanda
Maharaja.)
Similarly, Pradyumna is also divided into three forms
known as Trivikrama, Vamana and Sridhara; and the three forms of Aniruddha
are known as Hrsikesa, Padmanabha and Damodara.