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Šrū Caitanya–caritāmrta
[[Madhya-lilā Ch 9]
eka īśvara—bhaktera dhyāna-anurūpa eka-i vigrahe kare nāṇākāra rūpa
SYNONYMS
eka īśvara —the Lord is one;  bhaktera —of the devotees;  dhyāna —meditation;  anurūpa —according to;  eka-i —one;  vigrahe —in form;  kare —exhibits;  nānā-ākāra —different;  rūpa —forms.
TRANSLATION
“There is no difference between the transcendental forms of the Lord. Different forms are manifest due to different attachments of different devotees. Actually the Lord is one, but He appears in different forms just to satisfy His devotees.
PURPORT
In  Brahma-samhitā  (5.33) it is stated::
advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca
The Lord is  advaita , without differentiation. There is no difference between the forms of Kṛṣṇa, Rāma, Nārāyaṇa and Viṣṇu. All of them are one. Sometimes foolish people ask whether when we chant “Rāma” in the Hare Kṛṣṇa  mantra  we refer to Lord Rāmacandra or Lord Balarāma. If a devotee says that the name Rāma in the Hare Kṛṣṇa  mahā-mantra  refers to Balarāma, a foolish person may become angry because to him the name Rāma refers to Lord Rāmacandra. Actually there is no difference between Balarāma and Lord Rāma. It doesn’t matter if one chants Hare Rāma referring to Balarāma or Lord Rāmacandra, for there is no difference between Them. However, it is offensive to think that Balarāma is superior to Lord Rāmacandra or vice versa. Neophyte devotees do not understand this śāstric conclusion, and consequently they unneccessarily create an offensive situation. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu clarifies this in a very lucid way:  īśvaratve bheda mānile haya aparādha . It is offensive for one to differentiate between the forms of the Lord. On the other hand, one should not think that the forms of the Lord are the same as the forms of the demigods. This is certainly offensive. As confirmed by the  Vaiṣṇava-tantra :
yas tu nārāyaṇaṁ devaṁ 
    brahma-rudrādi-daivataiḥ 
    samatvenaiva vīkṣeta 
    sa pāṣaṇḍī bhaved dhruvam