Text 42] Prahlāda, the Best Among Exalted Devotees
323
original Supreme Personality of Godhead;  ca —also;  mahā-ātmanaḥ —the Supersoul;  avatāra-kathā —narrations about His incarnations;  puṇyā —pious, purifying;  vadhaḥ —killing;  yatra —wherein;  ādi —in the beginning of the millennium;  daityayoḥ —of the demons (Hiraṇyākṣa and Hiraṇyakaśipu).
TRANSLATION
In this narration about Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, various expansions or incarnations of the Lord have been described, and the killing of the two demons Hiraṇyākṣa and Hiraṇyakaśipu has also been described.
PURPORT
Avatāras , or incarnations, are expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead—Kṛṣṇa, Govinda.
advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyam purāṇa-puruṣam nava-yauvanam ca vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau govindam ādi-puruṣam tam aham bhajāmi
“I worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, who is the original person—nondual, infallible, and without beginning. Although He expands into unlimited forms, He is still the original, and although He is the oldest person, He always appears as a fresh youth. Such eternal, blissful and all-knowing forms of the Lord cannot be understood by the academic wisdom of the  Vedas , but they are always manifest to pure, unalloyed devotees.” ( Brahma-saṁhitā  5.33) The  Brahma-saṁhitā  describes the  avatāras . Indeed, all the  avatāras  are described in the authentic scriptures. No one can become an  avatāra , or incarnation, although this has become fashionable in the age of Kali. The  avatāras  are described in the authentic scriptures ( śāstras ), and therefore before one risks accepting a pretender as an  avatāra , one should refer to the  śāstras . The  śāstras  say everywhere that Kṛṣṇa is the original Personality of Godhead and that He has innumerable  avatāras , or incarnations. Elsewhere in the  Brahma-saṁhitā  it is said,  rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena