376 Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Madhya-lila, Ch. 9

eka isvara——bhaktera dhydna-anurdjpa
eka-i vigrahe kare ndnakdra ripa

SYNONYMS

eka isvara—the Lord is one; bhaktera—of the devotees; dhyana—meditation;
anuripa—according to; eka-i—one; vigrahe—in form; kare—exhibits; nana-
akara—different; réjpa—forms.

TRANSLATION

“There is no difference between the transcendental forms of the Lord. Dif-
ferent forms are manifest due to different attachments of different devotees.
Actually the Lord is one, but He appears in different forms just ta satisfy His
devotees.

PURPORT
In Brahma-samhita (5.33) it is stated:

advaitam acyutam anddim ananta-rdpam
adyam purdna-purusam nava-yauvanam Ca

The Lord is advaita, without differentiation. There is no difference between the
forms of Krsna, Rama, Narayana and Visnu. All of them are one. Sometimes foolish
people ask whether when we chant “Rama” in the Hare Krsna mantra we refer to
Lord Ramacandra or Lord Balarama. If a devotee says that the name Rama in the
Hare Krsna mahd-mantra refers to Balarama, a foolish person may become angry
because to him the name Rama refers to Lord Ramacandra. Actually there is no
difference between Balarama and Lord Rama. It doesn’t matter if one chants Hare
Rama referring to Balarama or Lord Ramacandra, for there is no difference be-
tween Them. However, it is offensive to think that Balarama is superior to Lord
Ramacandra or vice versa. Neophyte devotees do not understand this sastric con-
clusion, and consequently they unneccesarily create an offensive situation. Sri
Caitanya Mahdaprabhu clarifies this in a very lucid way: isvaratve bheda manile
haya aparadha. 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 Vaisnava-tantra:

yas tu narayanam devam
brahma-rudradi-daivataih
samatvenaiva vikseta
sa pasandi bhaved dhruvam
