738 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 1, Ch. 14

‘Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men will follow
in his footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all
the world pursues.” (Bg. 3.21)

All the above statements of the Lord apply to different plenary portions
of the Lord, namely His expansions of Sankarsana, Vasudeva, Pradyumna,
Aniruddha, Narayana, etc. All these expansions are He Himself by different
transcendental expansions, and still the Lord as Sri Krsna functions in a
different sphere of transcendental exchange with different grades of
devotees. And yet Lord Krsna as He is appears once in the day of Brahma
(or after a lapse of 864 trillion solar years) in each and every universe, and
all His transcendental pastimes are displayed in each and every universe in
a routine spool. But in that routine spool the functions of Lord Krsna,
Lord Vasudeva, etc., are complex problems for the layman. There is no
difference between the Lord’s Self and the Lord’s transcendental body.
The expansions execute differential activities. When the Lord, however,
appears in His person as Lord Sri Krsna, His other plenary portions also
join in Him by His inconceivable potency called yogamaya, and thus the
Lord Krsna of Vrndavana is different from the Lord Krsna of Mathura or
the Lord Krsna of Dvaraka. The virata ripa of Lord Krsna is also different
from Him, by His inconceivable potency. The virata rupa exhibited on the
Battlefield of Kuruksetra is the material conception of His form. Therefore
when Lord Krsna was apparently killed by the bow and arrow of the
hunter, it should be understood that the Lord left His so-called material
body in the material world. The Lord is kaivalya, and for Him there is no
difference between matter and spirit because everything is created from
Him. Therefore His quitting one sort of body or accepting another body
does not mean that He is like the ordinary living being. All such activities
are simultaneously one and different by His inconceivable potency. When
Maharaja Yudhisthira was lamenting the possibility of His disappearance,
it was just in pursuance of a custom of lamenting the disappearance of a
great friend, but factually the Lord never quits His transcendental body,
as is misconceived by less intelligent persons. Such less intelligent persons
have been condemned by the Lord Himself in the Bhagavad-gita, and they
are known as the mitdhas. That the Lord left His body means that He left
again His plenary portions in the respective dhamas (transcendental
abodes), as He left His virata ritpa in the material world.

TEXT 9
TATA: AFI ASA AN AM HS TAT: |
MAY AAA SHA AAT | 3 I!
