He Appears In Many Incarnations

Nevertheless, Krsna manifests Himself in different forms. He is like the original candle from which many other candles of equal brightness and warmth are lit. Expansions of Krsna are also counted as God. They are actually Krsna, but the original form of Krsna is the source of all other forms. This is confirmed in Srimad-Bhagavatam. The Lord manifests Himself as Nrsimha, Vamana, Rama, Balarama, etc., for different purposes, yet all the abovementioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord. Lord Sri Krsna, however, is the original Personality of Godhead: "Krsnas tu bhagavan svayam." Similarly Krsna is like the many-faceted Vaidurya stone, which, although one, reflects its many facets in many different colors. Rama acts as an ideal king, Nrsimha reflects the feature of anger, but Krsna acts as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and is therefore the complete whole.

What is the relation between Krsna and Christ? Krsna is the father, and Christ is the son. In Bhagavad-gita, Krsna claims that He is the seed-giving father of all living entities. In the Holy Bible, Jesus claims that he is the son of God, so there is no contradiction. Actually God appears either directly or indirectly, either by descending Himself or by sending a representative. Both types of beings who descend from the spiritual world for the sake of reclaiming the fallen souls are called avataras, or incarnations. The direct avataras are direct expansions of the Lord and are Visnu-tattva or God, while the indirect incarnations are jiva-tattva or minute living entities who have been especially empowered by Krsna for some purpose. For example, Narada is a jiva soul in the feature of devotional service, Vyasa is considered a literary incarnation of the Lord, and Brahma is empowered with creative potency. But all jiva-tattvas, even incarnations, are the energy of God and therefore the servants of God. Still they may receive all the respect ordinarily paid to God because they are His pure representatives.

Some indirect incarnations descend to teach about God, while others employed by Krsna to administrate the affairs of the universe, are called demigods. Krsna is like a king, and the demigods are like His cabinet ministers. For example, Brahma is in charge of creation, Indra is in charge of the weather, and Durga is in charge of the material energy. In different ways, the demigods perform devotional service to Krsna with powers granted by Krsna. Siva is in charge of destruction and is a great devotee of Krsna, though not exactly an ordinary living entity. But in the Gita Krsna says, "Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees reach My supreme abode." (7.23) Therefore it is a mistake to think that by worshiping any of the demigods or by chanting the names of the demigods one will achieve the same result as by worshiping Krsna. "Whatever a man may sacrifice to other gods, O son of Kunti, is really meant for Me alone, offered without true understanding. For I am the only enjoyer and the only object of sacrifice. They fall down who do not recognize My true transcendental nature." (Bg. 9.22-23) Srimad-Bhagavatam explains that one who has surrendered to Krsna has no obligations either to demigods, sages, or people in general; just as watering the root of a tree automatically nourishes all the leaves, twigs and branches, so by serving the Supreme Lord one automatically satisfies all the demigods. Lord Jesus says, "Love God," and Krsna says "Love Me," so what is the contradiction? The true representatives of God tell us to surrender to God, just as Krsna tells us to surrender to Him. Therefore there is complete harmony of thought expressed in all the teachings.

Are we God? No. We are the energy of God, eternally related to God. We are like the sunshine and God is like the sun globe; wherever there is sun there is sunshine, and wherever there is sunshine there is sun. But the sunshine is not the same as the sun globe. We are infinitesimal, and God is infinite; therefore we are qualitatively one with God but quantitatively different. Now, however, our qualitative oneness with God is covered, due to our association with matter, and we must purify ourselves to realize our spiritual nature as part and parcel of Krsna. Krsna says, "The living entities are My parts and parcels eternally" (Bg. 15.7), so how can the part be equal to the whole? How can we be God?

Lord Caitanya taught that our constitutional position is that we are eternal servants of Krsna. In the conditioned state and in the liberated state we are eternally Krsna's servants; we never become God. Liberation means to realize our constitutional position as servants of God. The hand is part of the body, and as it feeds the stomach it automatically becomes satisfied; but if the hand thinks, "Why should the stomach be all-in-all; I want to enjoy for myself," and it sticks itself in some food and does not feed the stomach, then it will wither. We are pure spirit soul, part and parcel of Krsna, and our purpose in life is to serve the complete whole, the Supreme Lord Krsna.

God always remains God. He is God when He is playing on the lap of Mother Yasoda; He is God when He kills the Putana demon at the age of six months; He is God displaying His universal form on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra. He did not have to become God by meditation, penance or austerity, or by following the rules and regulations. God is substantially God. His manifestation is always present. As explained by Srila Prabhupada, "Krsna has nothing to do. If anyone has to do something to become God, he is a dog. He is not God. This one can easily understand. If someone advertises that by meditation he has become God, or by worshiping such and such Deity he has become God, you can immediately take it that he is a dog. The Vedic definition says that God does not have to do anything to become God. Therefore God is substantially God."

Actually we are all in the material world because we wanted to forget Krsna. Therefore certain comments are not at all a surprise: "Because you come from a rich country, you can afford to spend your time chanting like this. When we become rich like you, we'll do this too." "Yes, why don't you go back to your country and leave us alone? These philosophies have kept us back long enough. It is fine for you to chant, but what about the starving masses? It is hard to meditate on an empty stomach."

When someone comes along to remind us of Krsna, we may use every excuse to avoid becoming Krsna conscious. Most people are used to thinking of themselves as the controllers, but to love God, one must concede that God is the supreme controller in all ways. No problem can exist independently of Him, nor can a solution be found without Him. Even economics is not a subject unrelated to Krsna. Problems such as poverty, starvation, poor housing, etc., are simply reflections or our forgetfulness of God. If the material necessities of life are used according to God's instructions, economic problems will disappear. In Sri Īsopanisad we learn that each person has an allotted quota of all necessities provided by the supreme father. Therefore, situations where one has too little or too much are due to ignorance of the laws which God has so mercifully revealed to us.