From Krishna comes innumerable incarnations, the most prominent of which are the lila-avatars, such as Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Rama, etc. I will describe most of these later. There are also the qualitative incarnations who are in charge of the modes of material nature, such as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, along with the Manus and the yuga-avatars.8
The time and reason for these incarnations is that whenever and wherever there is a substantial decline of religion and a rise in irreligion, at that time Lord Krishna manifests Himself. In this way, in order to protect the sadhus (the pious), destroy the envious, and reestablish the principles of religion, He advents Himself millennium after millennium.9
Let us remember that Lord Maha-Vishnu is resting in His yoga-nidra trance, in which He manifests the material energy. He is also the seed of the other incarnations of the Supreme who appear in the material world. So, as it is described, you could say that the Lord is like a sleeping person who creates a separate world in His imagination and then enters His own d ream and sees Him self with in it.10
THE LORD APPEARS IN EACH UNIVERSE
Even though there are so many avatars of the Supreme Being and plenary expansions of Him who appear in this world, we have to be aware of how to distinguish who is and who is not an avatar or incarnation. As in other ages, an incarnation is accepted according to the directions in the scriptures.11 In all descriptions of an incarnation, the scripture will provide the name of the father and the name of the place of birth in which the avatara will appear.12 Such descriptions will also elaborate on His bodily symptoms and activities. Therefore, we must be able to recognize the characteristics of an avatar of God by such descriptions and must not be whimsical about accepting someone as an incarnation, or even a representative of the Supreme.13 An actual incarnation of God never proclaims that He is God or an incarnation. The great Vedic texts have already recorded the characteristics of all the avatars.14 In this way, not just anyone can claim to be God or an avatar without the proper qualities and references in the Vedic scripture that verify his appearance.
Whenever the Lord Sri Krishna desires to manifest Himself on earth, He first sends His respectable predecessors. These take the form of the incarnations of His father, mother, and spiritual master. They appear first in order to prepare the way for the Supreme Being's appearance.15 These people, however, are the Lord's great devotees who serve Him by participating in His pastimes. Thus, though the Lord personally has nothing to do with this material existence, He comes to earth and imitates material life just to expand the varieties of ecstatic enjoyment for His devotees.16 In this way, Krishna, the original Soul of all living beings, has appeared as an ordinary human being for the benefit of the whole universe and out of His causeless mercy. This He has done by the strength of His own spiritual potency.17 Not only do the devotees enjoy Krishna's pastimes, but He also enjoys His transcendental activities in various forms in this material world, which cleans away all the unhappiness of those who joyfully chant His glories.18
In this way, Lord Krishna appears in each universe. When His activities are finished in one universe, He begins His pastimes in another. Thus, His eternal pastimes go on like this in the universes as long as the material manifestation continues. Furthermore, His eternally liberated devotees also follow Him from one universe to another to accompany Him in His blissful pastimes.19
The Supreme is also joined by those devotees who are nearly perfect in their spiritual consciousness. By joining the Lord's pastimes in another universe, and by their personal association with the Lord and His pure devotees, they can complete the necessary qualifications for entering directly into the spiritual atmosphere. This is how the Supreme Being displays the eternal pastimes of the spiritual domain within the material creation and attracts the materially conditioned souls to return to the eternal spiritual abode.
In this way, the consecutive pastimes of Krishna are manifest in one of the innumerable universes moment after moment. There is no possibility of counting the universes, but in any case some pastime of the Lord is being manifest at every moment in one universe or another.20
THE MAIN AVATARS OF THE SUPREME BEING
There are 22 main lila-avatars of the Supreme Being who appear throughout the ages. They all have specific forms or bodily features, and particular purposes for appearing. These are listed in the various Vedic texts, especially the Puranas, and Their many pastimes are explained in detail therein. But here we will provide a basic summary of Their activities and purposes.
The first of these incarnations are the four sons of Brahma, the Kumaras. They took a vow of celibacy and underwent severe austerities for realization of the Absolute Truth. They are considered empowered jiva souls, or shaktyavesha-avatars, whose mission was to teach the process of spiritual development.21 Knowledge of spiritual truth had disappeared from the previous universal devastation and they helped re-establish it.22
Lord Varaha was the second avatar who appeared in the form of a huge boar. He lifted the earth planet out of the nether regions of the filthy waters of the universe, which was a suitable activity for a boar. He did this to counter the nefarious activities of the demons who had put the earth planet into jeopardy.23
The third incarnation was the empowered sage among the demigods, Devarshi Narada Muni. He collected expositions of the Vedas which dealt with the process of devotional service to Lord Krishna, and authored the great classic Narada-pancharatna. He also traveled by his mystic abilities throughout the universe singing the praises of the Lord and giving instruction on bhakti-yoga and how to attain real happiness. Thus, he has many disciples all over the creation.24 Narada Muni had once been taught the science of loving service to the Supreme during the Lord's Hamsavatara incarnation, the swan-like form of the Supreme, who had been very much pleased by Narada.25
In the fourth avatar, the Lord became the twin sons known as Nara and Narayana. They were born of Murti, the wife of King Dharma. They underwent severe austerities in the area of Badarikashrama (Badrinatha) in the Himalayas to demonstrate the process of controlling the senses for spiritual advancement.26 The celestial beauties who were the companions of Cupid went to distract Narayana from His vows, but were unsuccessful when they could see many other beautiful women like them emanating from the Supreme Being. Everything comes from the Supreme, who remains unattached to all His manifestations.27
The fifth avatar was Lord Kapila, the foremost among perfected beings. He explained for the first time the system of the Sankhya philosophy and the way of understanding the Truth by the analysis of material elements.28 He was the son of the sage Kardama Muni and his wife Devahuti. He also gave great expositions to his mother on the science of devotional service to the Supreme Lord. By that means she became cleansed of all material tendencies and achieved liberation.29 This information is provided in detail in the Srimad-Bhagavatam.
The sixth avatar appeared as Dattatreya, the son of the sage Atri and his wife Anasuya, both of whom had prayed for an avatar to be their son. He had spoken on the subject of transcendence to Alarka, Prahlada, Yadu, Haihaya, and others.30
The seventh avatar was Yajna, the son of Ruci and his wife Akuti. During the time of Svayambhuva Manu there was no living entity qualified to take the post of Indra, the King of Heaven, on his planet Indraloka. So, Yajna took up the post of Indra and was assisted by His own sons, such as Yama, the lord of death, and other demigods to rule the administration over universal affairs.31
King Rishabha was the eighth avatar who appeared as the son of King Nabhi and his wife Merudevi. Again He demonstrated the path of spiritual perfection by performing yoga and instructing His sons in the process of tapasya, austerities for spiritual development. This path sanctifies one's existence and leads to eternal spiritual happiness. This process is followed by those who have fully controlled their senses and are honored by all orders of life.32
The Lord also appeared as the Hayagriva, the horse-headed, avatar in a golden color during a sacrifice performed by Brahma. When He breathed, a
ll of the sweet sounds of the Vedas came out of His nostrils.33
The ninth avatar was Prithu, who accepted the body of a king. He had been prayed for by the brahmana priests to counteract the problems that had been brought on by impious activities of the previous king, Vena. Prithu made various arrangements to cultivate the land to yield various forms of produce.34 Although King Vena was bound for hell due to the reactions of his misdeeds and the curse of the brahmanas, he was delivered by Prithu.35
After the time of the Chakshusha Manu there was a complete inundation over the whole world by water. Manu had been warned about this flood and built a ship in which he and his family survived. The Lord accepted the form of a huge fish to protect Vaivashvata Manu and guide the ship to safety on a huge mountain peak. This was the Matsya avatar. After the period of each Manu there is a devastation by water over the earth. The Lord then regularly appears to show special favor to His devotees and protect them from the devastation and allow society to start anew. In this way, He protects all of the living entities as well as the Vedas from destruction.36 After the last flood, Manu and his family and the surviving living creatures again repopulated the earth. Local people of Uttarakhand in Northern India identify the Nanda Devi as the mountain peak in the story of the flood. Also, in the town of Manali in that region of northern India is the temple dedicated to Manu where his ship was said to have came to rest after the flood.
The eleventh avatar of the Supreme, as described in the Bhagavata Purana, was in the form of a huge tortoise, Kurma, whose main mission was to act as a pivot for the Mandara Hill, which was being used as a churning rod between the demons and demigods. The scheme was that the demons and demigods wanted to produce nectar from the ocean by this churning action which would make them immortal. Each side wanted to be the first to get it, and the back of Lord Kurma was the resting place for the hill.37 As the mountain moved from side to side on the back of Kurma while He was partially asleep, He felt it as an itching sensation.38
As the twelfth avatar, the Lord appeared as Dhanvantari who produced the nectar that came from the churning action. He is considered the lord of good health. It is He who inaugurated the medical science in the universe.39 The Lord accepted the thirteenth avatar by becoming Rohini, the most beautiful woman who allured the demons away from the pot of nectar and gave it to the demigods. Thus, the Lord prevented the havoc that would have taken place if the demons had gotten the nectar and became immortal.40
In the fourteenth avatar, the Lord appeared as Narashimhadeva, the half-man half-lion form that displayed the anger and power of the Supreme Being when one of His devotees, Prahlada, was in peril. The Lord placed the demon Hiranyakashipu on His lap and with His long fingernails tore apart the body of the atheist demon who had threatened the life of his son, Prahlada, who was a staunch devotee of the Lord.41 This story has many twists and turns in it and is one of the most popular stories described in the Puranas.
As the fifteenth avatar, the Lord as Vamana assumed the form of a dwarf-brahmana. He appeared as the youngest son of His mother, Aditi. He visited the sacrificial arena of Bali Maharaja on the pretense of asking for a measly three steps of land. Bali quickly agreed, thinking that this dwarf could not take up much land. However, when Vamana took two steps, His body became so gigantic that it covered the whole universe. There was no where else to place His third step. So Bali, understanding that this was the Supreme Being, offered his own head. Thus, Vamana humbled Bali, who then became qualified to have his own planet.42
In the sixteenth avatar, the Lord accepted the mighty form of Parashurama and annihilated the wicked class of warrior kings twenty- one times in order to free the earth of the burden of these nefarious rulers. In this way, He could establish a noble administration.43
The seventeenth avatar was Srila Vyasadeva, who appeared as the son of Parashara Muni and his wife Satyavati. His mission was to divide the one Veda into various branches and sub-branches so the people who are less intelligent can more easily understand them.44 He then composed the more important Vedic texts, culminating in his own commentary of the Vedic writing in the form of the Srimad-Bhagavatam. In this way, the one Veda became the four main samhitas, namely the Rig, Yajur, Sama, and Atharva Vedas. Then came the Brahmana texts, the Vedanta Sutras, the Mahabharata, and then the Puranas, of which Vyasadeva considered the Bhagavata Purana (Bhagavatam) the most important and complete.
It is also explained that the Bhagavata Purana is the literary incarnation of God, which is meant for the ultimate good of all people, and is all-blissful and all-perfect. It is considered that by faithfully reading the Bhagavatam from start to finish, a person will realize the Supreme, especially when this is combined with the process of self- realization through bhakti-yoga and regular chanting of the Lord's holy names. Sri Vyasadeva offered the Bhagavata Purana to his son after extracting the cream of all Vedic literature. This Bhagavat Purana is as brilliant as the sun, and has arisen just after the departure of Lord Krishna to His own abode. Persons who have lost their vision due to the dense darkness of this age of Kali can get light from this Purana.45
To explain further about Srila Vyasadeva, Jiva Gosvami quotes the Vishnu Purana (3.4.2-5) in his Tattva-sandarbha (16.2) that a different empowered jiva soul takes the position of Vyasadeva in each incarnation as a shaktyavesha-avatara. This takes place just as each Kali- yuga begins so that He can divide and categorize the Vedic knowledge for the benefit of the masses. So, Vyasadeva started doing this in every cycle of Kali-yuga many thousands of years ago. However, in this particular divya-yuga in which we are in, or cycle of the four ages, Lord Narayana Himself appears as Srila Krishna-Dvaipayana Vyasa (or Vyasadeva) to divide the Vedic literature into various branches. Therefore, in this age of Kali-yuga He is not simply an empowered living entity.
In the eighteenth avatar, the Lord appeared as King Rama. In order to please the demigods and mankind, He displayed His superhuman powers as the ideal king and killed the demon King Ravana.46 This is one of the most popular stories in all of India that make up the great Vedic epic known as the Ramayana. Lord Rama appeared in the dynasty of Maharaja Ikshvaku as the son of Maharaja Dasaratha, with His internal potency and wife, Sita. Under the order of Dasaratha, Lord Rama had gone to the forest to live with Sita and His brother Lakshmana. While in the forest, Sita was kidnaped by the demon Ravana, which made way for the telling of the Ramayana. Being aggrieved, Rama went to search for Sita. With red-hot eyes, He looked all over India and on to the city of Ravana, which was on the island of Sri Lanka. All of the aquatics in the ocean were being burnt by the heat in His angry eyes, so the ocean gave way to Him. During the course of battle, proud Ravana was killed by the arrow from Lord Rama, who was then reunited with Sita.47
In the nineteenth and twentieth avatars, the Lord advented Himself as Lord Krishna and His brother Lord Balarama in the Yadu dynasty near the end of Dvapara-yuga. He displayed wonderful pastimes to invoke the attraction of the people and, again, to relieve the burden of the world of numerous demons and atheists.48 Lord Krishna is directly the original Personality of Godhead, and Balarama is the first plenary expansion of the Lord. From Balarama comes all the other expansions of the Divine.
The next incarnation of the Lord appeared in the beginning of Kali-yuga as Lord Buddha, the son of Anjana, for the purpose of deluding the envious who had misused the Vedic path, and to preach a simple system of nonviolence.49 At the time people in general were falling away from the proper execution of the Vedic system and had misused the Vedic recommendation of sacrifice and began offering and consuming animals. Buddha denounced all such actions and taught people simply to follow him and his teachings. Thus, he fooled the faithless people who then believed in Lord Buddha.
The twenty-second and final avatar of the Supreme will appear at the end of Kali-yuga, at the conjunction of the next yuga. He will take His birth as Kalki, the son of Yasha, when the rulers of earth will have degenerated into common thieves and plunderers.50 At the time there will be no topics o
n the subject of God, nor any knowledge of religion. Then, rather than trying to teach or show the way of progress when people will be too retarded and slow minded to understand philosophy, He will simply slaughter the foolish rogues who wander the earth. This will take place about 427,000 years from now, according to the Vedic texts. [Details about Lord Kalki and His activities are provided in one of my previous books, The Vedic Prophecies: A New Look into the Future.]
As is summarized in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.3.28), all of these incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord. Once again we have to remember the verse from the Bhagavata Purana (1.3.28):
ete chamsha-kalah pumsaha
krishnas tu bhagavan svayam
indrari-vyakulam lokam
mridayanti yuge yuge
"All of the (previously mentioned) avatars are either plenary portions or portions of plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Sri Krishna is the original Personality of Godhead [from whom all other avatars and expansions of God appear]. All of them appear on planets whenever there is a disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists."
Also, as is further explained, "You should know Krishna to be the original Soul of all living entities. For the benefit of the whole universe, He has, out of His causeless mercy, appeared as an ordinary human being. He has done this by the strength of His internal potency.
"Those in this world who understand Lord Krishna as He is see all things, whether stationary or moving, as manifest forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such enlightened persons recognize no reality apart from the Supreme Lord Krishna." (Bhagavata Purana 10.14.55-56)
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