Adi-fila, Chapter 5 467

If someone calls Lord Ramacandra by the vibration Hare Rama, or if he under-
stands Ramacandra, he is quite right. Similarly, if one says that Hare Rama means Sr
Balarama, he is also right. Those who are aware of the visnu-tattva do not fight over
all these details.

In the Laghu-bhagavatamyta Srila Ripa Gosvami has explained Krsna’s being both
KsirodakaSayt Visnu and Narayana in the spiritual sky and expanding in quadruple
forms like Vasudeva, Sarikarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. He has refuted the
idea that Krsna is an incarnation of Narayana. Some devotees think that Narayana
is the original Personality of Godhead and that Kysna is an incarnation. Even
Safikaracarya, in his commentary on Bhagavad-gitd, has accepted Narayana as the
transcendental Personality of Godhead who appeared as Kysna, the son of Devaki
and Vasudeva. Therefore this matter may be difficult to understand. But the
Gaudiya-Vaisnava-sampradaya, headed by Ripa Gosvami, has established the prin-
ciple of Bhagavad-gita that everything emanates from Krsna, who says in Bhagavad-
gitd, aharn sarvasya prabhavah: ‘‘\ am the original source of everything.” ‘‘Everything”’
includes Narayana. Therefore Ripa Gosvami, in the Laghu-bhdagavatamrta, has es-
tablished that Krsna, not Narayana, is the original Personality of Godhead.

In this connection he has quoted a verse from Srimad-Bhdgavatam (3.2.15) that
states:

sva-Santa-rupesv itaraih sva-rupair
abhyardyamanesv anukampitatma
paravareso mahad-arhsa-yukto
hy ajo ‘pi jato bhagavan yathagnih

“When pure devotees of the Lord like Vasudeva are greatly disturbed by dangerous
demons like Karnsa, Lord Krsna joins with all His pastime expansions, such as the
Lord) of Vaikuntha, and, although unborn, becomes manifest, just as fire becomes
manifest by the friction of arani wood.” Arani wood is used to ignite a sacrificial
fire without matches or any other flame. Just as fire appears from arani wood, the
Supreme Lord appears when there is friction between devotees and nondevotees.
When Krsna appears, He appears in full, including within Himself all His expansions
like Narayana, Vasudeva, Sahkarsana, Aniruddha and Pradyumna. Krsna is always
integrated with His other incarnations, like Nrsirhnhadeva, Varaha, Vamana, Nara-
Narayana, Hayagriva and Ajita. In Vrndavana sometimes Lord Krsna exhibits the
functions of such incarnations.

In the Brahmdnda Purana it is said: ‘The same Personality of Godhead who is
known in Vaikuntha as the four-handed Narayana, the friend of all living entities,
and in the milk ocean as the Lord of Svetadvipa, and who is the best of all purusas,
appeared as the son of Nanda. In a fire there are many sparks of different dimen-
sions; 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 Visnu expansions of
Lord Krsna. All the incarnations emanate from Krsna, and after the end of their
pastimes they again merge with Krsna.”

Therefore in the various Purdnas Krsna is described sometimes as Narayana,
sometimes as Ksirodakasayt Visnu, sometimes as Garbhodakasayi Visnu and some-
