CHAPTER EIGHT
The Avataras
Lord Chaitanya continued: The expansions of Lord Krishna Who come to the material Creation are called  Avataras  or incarnations.  Avatara  means one who descends from the higher Spiritual Sky. In the Spiritual Sky there are innumerable Vaikuntha planets, and from such a planet the expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead comes into this Universe, and therefore He is called  Avatara .  Avataran  means to descend.
The first descent of the Supreme Personality of Godhead from the expansion of Samkarshan is the  Purusha  incarnation. This is confirmed in the  Srimad Bhagwatam , both in the First Canto, Third Chapter, as well as in the Sixth Chapter. It is said there that the Supreme Personality of Godhead descends as the first  Purusha  incarnation for the material Creation, and He immediately manifests sixteen elementary energies. He is known as Maha Vishnu, lying on the Causal Ocean, and He is the Original incarnation in the material world. He is the Lord of time, Nature, cause and effect, mind, ego, and the five elements, the three modes of nature, the senses, and the Universal Form. He is
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