Page 46 - History of Tirupathi Balaji and comparison of Sri Vaishnava

unborn, becomes manifest, just as fi re becomes manifest by the friction of arani wood. Arani
wood is used to ignite a sacrifi cial fi re without matches or any other fl ame. It
ignites by friction. Similarly, the Supreme Lord appears when there is friction
between devotees and non-devotees. When Krishna appears, He appears in
full, including within Himself all His expansions, such as Narayana, and the
quadruple expansions of Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Aniruddha and Pradyumna.
Krishna is always integrated with His other incarnations, like Nrsimhadeva,
Varaha, Vamana, Nara-Narayana, Hayagriva and Ajita. In Vrindaban Lord
Krishna sometimes exhibits the functions of such incarnations by performing
incredible pastimes like killing horrible demons to lifting mountains.
In the Brahmanda Purana, it is said, The same Personality who is known in
Vaikuntha as the four-handed Narayana, the friend of all living entities, and in the milk
ocean as the Lord of Svetadvipa. And who is the best of all purusa (spiritual personalities),
appeared as the son of Nanda (Krishna’s foster father). In a fi re there are many sparks of
different dimensions; some of them are very big, and some are small. The small sparks are
compared to the living entities, and the big sparks are compared to the Vishnu expansions
of Lord Krishna. All the incarnations emanate from Krishna, and after the end of their
pastimes they again merge with Krishna.
Therefore, in the various Puranas Krishna is described sometimes as
Narayana, sometimes as Ksirodakasayi Vishnu, Garbhodakadsayi Vishnu and
sometimes as Vaikunthanatha, the Lord of Vaikuntha (Narayana). Because
Krishna is always full, Mula-Sankarsana is in Krishna or expanded from Him.
Mula-sankarsana means the following: Balarama is the fi rst expansion of
Krishna. He expands Himself in fi ve forms: (1) Maha-sankarsana or the fi rst
quadruple expansion that manifests the entire spiritual world, then a second
quadruple expansion that manifests the material world in which there are (2)
Karanabdhisayi Vishnu,(3) Garbhodakasayi Vishnu, (4) Ksirodakasayi Vishnu,
and (5) Sesa. These fi ve plenary (absolute) portions are responsible for both the
spiritual and material cosmic manifestations. In these fi ve forms Lord Balarama
assists Lord Krishna in His activities. The fi rst four of these forms are responsible
for the cosmic manifestations, whereas Sesa is responsible for personal service to
the Lord. Sesa is called Ananta, or unlimited, because He assists the Personality
of Godhead in His unlimited expansions by performing an unlimited variety of
services. Sri Balarama is the servitor Godhead who serves Lord Krishna in all
affairs of existence and knowledge.

Since all the incarnations are manifested from Mula-sankarsana, it should
be understood that He can manifest different incarnations by His supreme will,
even in the presence of Krishna. For example, when Krishna was in Vrindaban,
Balarama was always with Him. During the pastimes of Rama, the Lord met
Parasurama who is an incarnation of the Lord. Srinivasa met Lord Varaha on
the Tirumala mountain. Krishna and Arjuna went to meet Maha Vishnu. There
are many examples of multiple incarnations being present at the same time in the
pastimes of the Lord. This is explained by Lord Caitanya as acintya bhedabheda
tattva – the absolute truth is inconceivable and simultaneous oneness and
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