Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmrita Madhya 20.244

sańkarshana, matsyādika, — dui bheda tāńra

sańkarshana — purushāvatāra, līlāvatāra āra

SYNONYMS

sańkarshana — Sańkarshana; matsya-ādika — and incarnations such as the fish; dui — two; bheda — differentiations; tāńra — His; sańkarshana — Sańkarshana; purusha-avatāra — incarnations of Vishnu; līlā-avatāra — pastime incarnations; āra — and.

TRANSLATION

"The first personal expansion is Sańkarshana, and the others are incarnations like the fish incarnation. Sańkarshana is an expansion of the Purusha, or Vishnu. The incarnations such as Matsya, the fish incarnation, appear in different yugas for specific pastimes.

PURPORT

The purusha-avatāras are the Lords of the universal creation. These are Kāranodakaśāyī Vishnu, Garbhodakaśāyī Vishnu and Kshīrodakaśāyī Vishnu. There are also līlā-avatāras, and these include (1) Catuhsana, or the four Kumāras, (2) Nārada, (3) Varāha, (4) Matsya, (5) Yajña, (6) Nara-Nārāyana, (7) Kārdami Kapila, (8) Dattātreya, (9) Hayaśīrshā, (10) Hamsa, (11) Dhruvapriya, or Priśnigarbha, (12) Rishabha, (13) Prithu, (14) Nrisimha, (15) Kūrma, (16) Dhanvantari, (17) Mohinī, (18) Vāmana, (19) Bhārgava Paraśurāma, (20) Rāghavendra, (21) Vyāsa, (22) Pralambāri Balarāma, (23) Krishna, (24) Buddha and (25) Kalki.

These twenty-five Personalities of Godhead are known as līlā-avatāras. Because they appear in each day of Brahmā, or in each kalpa (millennium), they are sometimes known as kalpa-avatāras. Of these incarnations, Hamsa and Mohinī are neither permanent nor very well known, but They are listed among the prābhava-avatāras. Kapila, Dattātreya, Rishabha, Dhanvantari and Vyāsa are eternally situated and very widely known. They are also counted among the prābhava incarnations. Kūrma, Matsya, Nārāyana, Varāha, Hayagrīva, Priśnigarbha and Baladeva, the killer of Pralambāsura, are counted among the vaibhava-avatāras.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness