Krishna: Fountainhead of All Avatars

 

From time to time, the Lord descends to the material world this is referred to as an avatar. Evidences regarding the genu­ine avatars of the Lord are found in the revealed scriptures. For  example, Lord Krishna has been mentioned in the Chandogya Upanishad as Devaki-nandan Krishna and also in the Rig-Veda and innumerable other scriptures. Thousands of years before Lord  Buddha's appearance it was foretold in the ShrimadBhagavatatn that He would appear in the city of Gaya and the names of His parents as well as His activities were also accurately predicted.  The Chaitanya Upanishad (see Appendix 3)portion of theAthafli Veda foretells the appearance of Lord Chaitanya 4500 years before His appearance.

 

In the Bhagavatam there is a list of many incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but Krishna is described as A original Personality of Godhead, from whom many, many jnca  nations and Personalities of Godhead expand:

 

ete camsa-kalah pumsah krsnas tu bhagavan svayam

 indrari-vyakulam lokam mrdayanti yuge yuge

 

"All the lists of the incarnations of Godhead submitted here­with are either plenary expansions or parts of the plenary expan­sions of the Supreme Godhead, but Krishna is the Supreme  Per­sonality of Godhead Himself." (Shrimad Bhagvatam 1.3.28) The Brahma Samhita (5.46) also supports this:

 

diparcir eva hi dasantaram abhyupetya dipayate vivrta-hetu-samana-dharma

yas tadrg eva hi ca vishnutaya vibhati govindam adi-purusam tarn aham bhajami

 

"When the flame of one candle is expanded to another candle and placed in a different position, it burns separately, and its illu­mination is as powerful as the original candle. Similarly, the  Su­preme Personality of Godhead, Govinda (Krishna), expands Him­self in different forms as Vishnu, who are equally luminous, pow­erful and opulent. Let me worship that Supreme Personality  of Godhead, Govinda."