814
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 1, Ch. 15]
TEXT 35
यथा मत्स्यादिरूपाणि धत्ते जह्याद् यथानटः । भूभारः क्षपितो येन जहौ तच्च कलेवरम् ॥३५॥
yathā matsyādi-rūpāṇi dhatte jahyād yathā naṭaḥ bhūbhāraḥ kṣapito yena jahau tac ca kalevaram
yathā —as much as;  matsya-ādi —incarnation as a fish, etc.;  rūpāṇi —forms;  dhatte —eternally accepts;  jahyāt —apparently relinquishes;  yathā —exactly like;  naṭaḥ —magician;  bhūbhāraḥ —burden of the world;  kṣapitaḥ —relieved;  yena —by which;  jahau —let go;  tat —that;  ca —also;  kalevaram —body.
TRANSLATION
The Supreme Lord relinquished the body which He manifested to diminish the burden of the earth. Just like a magician, He relinquishes one body to accept different ones, like the fish incarnation, etc.
PURPORT
The Supreme Lord Personality of Godhead is neither impersonal nor formless, but His body is nondifferent from Him, and therefore He is known as the embodiment of eternity, knowledge and bliss. In the  Bṛhad-vaiṣṇava Tantra  it is clearly mentioned that anyone who considers the form of the Lord Kṛṣṇa to be made of material energy must be ostracized by all means. And if by chance the face of such an infidel is seen, one must clean himself by jumping in the river with his clothing. The Lord is described as  amṛta , or deathless, because He has no material body. Under the circumstances, the Lord's dying or quitting His body is like the jugglery of a magician. The magician shows by his tricks that he is cut into pieces, burnt into ashes or made unconscious by hypnotic influences, etc., but all are false shows only. Factually the magician himself is neither burnt into ashes nor is he cut into pieces nor is he dead or unconscious at any stage of his magical demonstration. Similarly, the Lord has His eternal forms of unlimited variety of which the fish incarnation, as was exhibited within this universe, is also one. Because there are innumerable universes, somewhere or other the fish incarnation must be manifesting His pastimes without cessation. In this verse, the particular