Ādi-līlā, Chapter 5
467
If someone calls Lord Rāmacandra by the vibration Hare Rāma, or if he understands Rāmacandra, he is quite right. Similarly, if one says that Hare Rāma means Śrī Balarāma, he is also right. Those who are aware of the  viṣṇu-tattva  do not fight over all these details.
In the  Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta  Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has explained Kṛṣṇa's being both Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and Nārāyaṇa in the spiritual sky and expanding in quadruple forms like Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. He has refuted the idea that Kṛṣṇa is an incarnation of Nārāyaṇa. Some devotees think that Nārāyaṇa is the original Personality of Godhead and that Kṛṣṇa is an incarnation. Even Śaṅkarācārya, in his commentary on  Bhagavad-gītā , has accepted Nārāyaṇa as the transcendental Personality of Godhead who appeared as Kṛṣṇa, the son of Devakī and Vasudeva. Therefore this matter may be difficult to understand. But the Gauḍīya-Vaiṣṇava-sampradāya, headed by Rūpa Gosvāmī, has established the principle of  Bhagavad-gītā  that everything emanates from Kṛṣṇa, who says in  Bhagavad-gītā ,  ahaṁsarvasyaprabhavaḥ : "I am the original source of everything." "Everything" includes Nārāyaṇa. Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī, in the  Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta , has established that Kṛṣṇa, not Nārāyaṇa, is the original Personality of Godhead.
In this connection he has quoted a verse from  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  (3.2.15) that states:
sva-śānta-rūpeṣv itaraiḥ sva-rūpair abhyardyamāneṣv anukampitātmā parāvareśo mahad-aṁśa-yukto hy ajo 'pi jāto bhagavān yathāgniḥ
"When pure devotees of the Lord like Vasudeva are greatly disturbed by dangerous demons like Kaṁsa, Lord Kṛṣṇa joins with all His pastime expansions, such as the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha, and, although unborn, becomes manifest, just as fire becomes manifest by the friction of  araṇi  wood."  Araṇi  wood is used to ignite a sacrificial fire without matches or any other flame. Just as fire appears from  araṇi  wood, the Supreme Lord appears when there is friction between devotees and nondevotees. When Kṛṣṇa appears, He appears in full, including within Himself all His expansions like Nārāyaṇa, Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Aniruddha and Pradyumna. Kṛṣṇa is always integrated with His other incarnations, like Nṛsiṁhadeva, Varāha, Vāmana, Nara-Nārāyaṇa, Hayagrīva and Ajita. In Vṛndāvana sometimes Lord Kṛṣṇa exhibits the functions of such incarnations.
In the  Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa  it is said: "The same Personality of Godhead who is known in Vaikuṇṭha as the four-handed Nārāyaṇa, the friend of all living entities, and in the milk ocean as the Lord of Śvetadvīpa, and who is the best of all  puruṣas , appeared as the son of Nanda. In a fire 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 large sparks are compared to the Viṣṇu expansions of Lord Kṛṣṇa. All the incarnations emanate from Kṛṣṇa, and after the end of their pastimes they again merge with Kṛṣṇa."
Therefore in the various  Purāṇas  Kṛṣṇa is described sometimes as Nārāyaṇa, sometimes as Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, sometimes as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and some-