460 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 1, Ch. 9
gita* that Narayana the Personality of Godhead is beyond the material
creation. The universe is one of the material creations, but Narayana is
transcendental to such material paraphernalia.

Bhismadeva is one of the twelve mahdjanas who know the principles
of transcendental knowledge. His confirmation of Lord Sri Krsna’s being
the original Personality of Godhead is also corroborated by the imperson-
alist Sankara. All other acaryas have also confirmed this statement, and
thus there is no chance of not accepting Lord Sri Krsna as the original
Personality of Godhead. Bhismadeva says that He is the first Narayana.
This is also confirmed by Brahmaji in the Bhagavatam (10.14.14). Krsna
is the first Narayana. In the spiritual world (Vaikunthas) there are un-
limited numbers of Narayanas, who are all the same Personality of
Godhead and are considered to be the plenary expansions of the original
Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna. The first form of the Lord Sri Krsna
first expands Himself as the form of Baladeva, and Baladeva expands in so
many other forms, such as Sankarsana, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, Vasudeva,
Narayana, Purusa, Rama, Nrsimbha, etc. All these expansions are one and
the same Visnu-tattva, and Sri Krsna is the original source of all the
plenary expansions. He is, therefore, the direct Personality of Godhead.
He is the creator of the material world, and He is the predominating
Deity known as Narayana in all the Vaikuntha planets. Therefore, His
movements amongst human beings is another sort of bewilderment. The
Lord therefore says in the Bhagavad-gitd that foolish persons consider
Him to be one of the human beings without knowing the intricacies of
His movements.

The bewilderment regarding Sri Krsna is due to the action of His two-
fold internal and external energies upon the third one, called marginal
energy. The living entities are expansions of His marginal energy, and thus
they are sometimes bewildered by the internal energy and sometimes
by the external energy. By internal energetic bewilderment, Sri Krsna ex-
pands Himself into unlimited numbers of Narayanas and exchanges or
accepts transcendental loving service from the living entities in the tran-
scendental world. And by His external energetic expansions, He incarnates
Himself in the material world amongst the men, animals or demigods to
reestablish His forgotten relation with the living entities in different species
of life. Great authorities like Bhisma, however, escape His bewilderment by
the mercy of the Lord.

*narayanah paro ‘vyaktat anda-avvakla sambhavam
avyaklantas li ime loka sapta dvipa ca medini
(Bg. Bhasya of Sankara)
