Text 246] The Lord Instructs Sandtana Gosvami 135

gunavatara, ara manvantaravatara
yugavatara, dra saktyavesavatara

SYNONYMS

guna-avatara—the incarnations to control the material qualities; d4ra—also;
manu-antara-avatara—the incarnations of the Manus; yuga-avatdara—the incarna-
tions according to different yugas; ara—and; sakti-avesa-avatara—empowered
incarnations.

TRANSLATION

“There are incarnations that control the material qualities [guna-avataras],
incarnations of the Manus [manvantara-avataras], incarnations in different
millenniums [yuga-avataras] and incarnations of empowered living entities
[Saktyavesa-avataras].

PURPORT

The guna-avataras are three—Lord Brahma, Lord Siva and Lord Visnu
(Bhag. 10.88.3). The avataras of Manu, or manvantara-avataras, are listed as
follows in Srimad-Bhagavatam (8.1.5,1 3): (1) Yajfia, (2) Vibhu, (3) Satyesena,
(4) Hari, (5) Vaikuntha, (6) Ajita, (7) Vamana, (8) Sarvabhauma, (9) Rsabha,
(10) Visvaksena, (11) Dharmasetu, (12) Sudhama, (13) Yogesvara and
(14) Brhadbhanu. Altogether these are fourteen in number, and of these, both
Yaja and Vamana are also counted among the /ila-avataras. All these Manu incar-
nations are sometimes called vaibhava-avatdaras.

The four yuga-avataras are (1) sukla (white) in the Satya-yuga (Bhag. 11.5.21),
(2) rakta (red) in the Treta-yuga (Bhag. 11.5.24), (3) syéma (dark blue) in the
Dvdpara-yuga (Bhag. 11.5.27), and (4) generally krsna (black) but in special cases
pita (yellow) as Caitanya Mahdaprabhu in the Kali-yuga, (Bhaég. 11.5.32 and
10.8.13).

The saktyavesa-avatara is categorized into (1) forms of divine absorption
(bhagavad-avesa) like Kapiladeva or Rsabhadeva and (2) divinely empowered
forms (saktydvesa), of whom there are seven: (1) Sesa Naga in the Vaikuntha
world, empowered for the personal service of the Supreme Lord (sva-sevana-sak-
ti), (2) Anantadeva, empowered to bear all the planets within the universe (bhd-
dhdarana-sakti), (3) Lord Brahma, empowered with the energy to create the cos-
mic manifestation (srsti-sakti), (4) Catuhsana, or the Kumi§ras, specifically em-
powered to distribute transcendental knowledge (jfdna-sakti), (5) Narada Muni,
empowered to distribute devotional service (bhakti-sakti), (6) Maharaja Prthu,
specifically empowered to rule and maintain the living entities (palana-sakti) and
(7) Parasurama, specifically empowered to cut down rogues and demons (dusta-
damana-sakti).
