CHAPTER EIGHT |

The Avataras

Lord Chaitanya continued: The expansions of Lord Krishna Who come
to the material Creation are called Avataras or incarnations. Avatara means one
who descends from the higher Spiritual Sky. In the Spiritual Sky there are
innumerable Vaikuntha planets, and from such a planet the expansion of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead comes into this Universe, and therefore
He is called Avatara. Avataran means to descend.

The first descent of the Supreme Personality of Godhead from the expan-
sion of Samkarshan is the Purusha incarnation. This is confirmed in the Srimad
Bhagwatam, both in the First Canto, Third Chapter, as well as in the Sixth
Chapter. It is said there that the Supreme Personality of Godhead descends
as the first Purusha incarnation for the material Creation, and He immediately
manifests sixteen elementary energies. He is known as Maha Vishnu, lying
on the Causal Ocean, and He is the Original incarnation in the material world.
He is the Lord of time, Nature, cause and effect, mind, ego, and the five
elements, the three modes of nature, the senses, and the Universal Form. He is

73
