Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Teachings of Lord Caitanya

In Srimad-Bhagavatam it is stated that when Akrura was accompanying both Krishna 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 Vishnu form as well as Narada and the four Kumaras, who were worshiping Him. As stated in the Bhagavata Purana (Bhag. 10.40.7):

anye ca samskritatmano

vidhinabhihitena te

yajanti tvan-mayas tvam vai

bahumurty-ekamurtikam

There are many worshipers who are purified by different processes of worship -- such as the Vaishnavas 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 Krishna Himself, the only difference being that the bodily hue of Krishna is dark and that of Balarama is fair. The vaibhava-prakasa form was also displayed when Krishna 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, Krishna 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 kshatriya and acts as a princely administrator.

In the two-handed form, as the cowherd son of Nanda Maharaja, Krishna fully exhibits His opulence, form, beauty, wealth, attractiveness and pastimes. Indeed, in some of the Vaishnava literatures it is found that sometimes, in His form as Vasudeva, He becomes attracted to the form of Govinda in Vrindavana. 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 Krishna 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, Krishna 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 Krishna 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 Krishna expands Himself as Vasudeva, Sankarshana, 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 kshatriya prince, and this "thinking" of Krishna 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 Krishna. His expansions as Vasudeva, Sankarshana, 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, Sankarshana, 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 Krishna 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, Sankarshana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha are manifested. Thus Narayana is the center, and the four forms of Vasudeva, Sankarshana, 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 Sankarshana are known as Govinda, Vishnu and Sri Madhusudana. (It should be noted, however, that this Govinda form is not the same Govinda form that is manifested in Vrindavana 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 Hrishikesa, Padmanabha and Damodara.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness