{"id":20612,"date":"2020-03-05T02:57:26","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T06:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/?p=20612"},"modified":"2022-02-09T01:56:17","modified_gmt":"2022-02-09T06:56:17","slug":"teachings-of-lord-caitanya-chapter-six-his-forms-are-one-and-the-same","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/teachings-of-lord-caitanya-chapter-six-his-forms-are-one-and-the-same\/","title":{"rendered":"Teachings of Lord Caitanya, CHAPTER SIX His Forms Are One and the Same"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CHAPTER SIX<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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His Forms Are One and the Same<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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By devotional service one can understand that K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a first of all manifests Himself as svaya\u1e41-r\u016bpa,<\/i> His personal form, then as tad-ek\u0101tma-r\u016bpa, <\/i>and then as \u0101ve\u015ba-r\u016bpa<\/i>. It is in these three features that He manifests Himself in His transcendental form. The feature of svaya\u1e41-r\u016bpa<\/i> is the form by which K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a can be understood by one who may not understand His other features. In other words, the form by which K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is directly understood is called svaya\u1e41-r\u016bpa,<\/i> or His personal form. The tad-ek\u0101tma-r\u016bpa<\/i> is that form which most resembles the svaya\u1e41-r\u016bpa,<\/i> but there are some differences in the bodily features. The tad-ek\u0101tma-r\u016bpa<\/i> is divided into two manifestations: the personal expansion (sv\u0101\u1e41\u015ba<\/i>) and the pastime expansion (vil\u0101sa<\/i>). As far as the \u0101ve\u015ba-r\u016bpa<\/i> is concerned, when K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a empowers some suitable living entity to represent Him, that living entity is called \u0101ve\u015ba-r\u016bpa<\/i> or \u015bakty\u0101ve\u015ba-avat\u0101ra<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The personal form of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a can be divided into two: svaya\u1e41-r\u016bpa<\/i> and svaya\u1e41-prak\u0101\u015ba<\/i>. As far as His svaya\u1e41-r\u016bpa<\/i> (or pastime form) is concerned, it is in that form that He remains always in V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana with the inhabitants of V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana. This personal form (svaya\u1e41-r\u016bpa<\/i>) can be further divided into the pr\u0101bhava<\/i> and vaibhava<\/i> forms. For example, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a expanded Himself in multiple forms during the r\u0101sa<\/i> dance in order to dance with each and every gop\u012b<\/i> who took part in that dance. Similarly, He expanded Himself into 16,108 forms in Dv\u0101rak\u0101 when he married 16,108 wives. There are some instances of great mystics\u2019 expanding their bodily forms by the yoga process, but K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a did not expand Himself in that way. In Vedic history, Saubhari \u1e5a\u1e63i expanded himself into eight forms by the yoga process, but those expansions were simply reflections, for Saubhari remained one. But when K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a manifested Himself in different forms, each and every one of them was a separate individual. When N\u0101rada Muni visited K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a at His different palaces in Dv\u0101rak\u0101, he was astonished at this, and yet N\u0101rada is never astonished to see the expansions of a yog\u012b\u2019s<\/i> body, since he knows the trick himself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u015ar\u012bmad-Bh\u0101gavatam<\/a><\/i> describes N\u0101rada Muni\u2019s astonishment at seeing K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s expansions in Dv\u0101rak\u0101. N\u0101rada wondered how the Lord was present with His queens in each and every one of His 16,108 palaces. With each queen, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a Himself was in a different form, acting in different ways. In one form He was talking with His wife, in another form He was petting His children, and in another form He was performing some household duty. These different activities are conducted by the Lord when He is in His \u201cemotional\u201d forms, which are known as vaibhava-prak\u0101\u015ba<\/i> expansions. Similarly, there are other unlimited expansions of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s forms, but even when they are divided or expanded without limit, they are still one and the same. There is no difference between one form and another. That is the absolute nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In \u015ar\u012bmad-Bh\u0101gavatam<\/a><\/i> (10.39.44\u201357) it is stated that when Akr\u016bra was accompanying K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a and Balar\u0101ma from Gokula to Mathur\u0101, he entered the waters of the Yamun\u0101 River and could see all the planets of the spiritual sky. He also saw the Lord in His Vi\u1e63\u1e47u form, as well as N\u0101rada and the four Kum\u0101ras, who were worshiping Him. As stated in the Bh\u0101gavata Pur\u0101\u1e47a<\/i>(\u015ar\u012bmad-Bh\u0101gavatam<\/i> 10.40.7)<\/a>:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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anye ca sa\u1e41sk\u1e5bt\u0101tm\u0101no
\n\u2003\u2003<\/span>vidhin\u0101bhihitena te
\nyajanti tvan-may\u0101s tv\u0101\u1e41 vai
\n\u2003\u2003<\/span>bahu-m\u016brty-eka-m\u016brtikam<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe Supreme Lord\u2019s many worshipers \u2013 the Vai\u1e63\u1e47avas, or \u0100ryans \u2013 are purified by the various processes of worship they perform according to their convictions and spiritual understanding. Each process of worship involves understanding different forms of the Lord, as mentioned in the scriptures, but the ultimate idea is to worship the Supreme Lord Himself.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In His vaibhava-prak\u0101\u015ba<\/i> feature, the Lord manifests Himself as Balar\u0101ma. The Balar\u0101ma feature is as good as K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a Himself, the only difference being that K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s bodily hue is blackish and Balar\u0101ma\u2019s is whitish. The vaibhava-prak\u0101\u015ba<\/i>form was also displayed when K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a appeared before His mother Devak\u012b in the four-handed form of N\u0101r\u0101ya\u1e47a, just when He entered the world. Then at the request of His parents He transformed Himself into a two-handed form. Thus He sometimes manifests four hands and sometimes two. The two-handed form is vaibhava-prak\u0101\u015ba,<\/i> and the four-handed form is pr\u0101bhava-prak\u0101\u015ba<\/i>. In His personal form, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is just like a cowherd boy, and He thinks of Himself in that way. But when He is in the V\u0101sudeva form, He thinks of Himself as the son of a k\u1e63atriya<\/i> and feels like a k\u1e63atriya,<\/i> a princely administrator.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In His two-handed form as the cowherd son of Nanda Mah\u0101r\u0101ja, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a fully exhibits His opulence, beauty, wealth, attractiveness and pastimes. Indeed, in some Vai\u1e63\u1e47ava literature it is found that sometimes, in His form as V\u0101sudeva, He becomes attracted to His form of Govinda in V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana. Thus as V\u0101sudeva He sometimes desires to enjoy as Govinda does, although the Govinda form and the V\u0101sudeva form are ultimately one and the same. In this regard, there is a passage in the Lalita-m\u0101dhava<\/i> (4.19), in which K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a addresses Uddhava as follows: \u201cMy dear friend, the form of this cowherd boy Govinda attracts Me. Indeed, I wish to be like the damsels of Vraja, who are also attracted by this form of Govinda.\u201d Similarly, later in the Lalita-m\u0101dhava<\/i> (8.34), K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a says: \u201cOh, how wonderful it is! Who is this person? After seeing Him, I am so much attracted that I now desire to embrace Him just like R\u0101dhik\u0101.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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There are also forms of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a that are a little different from His original form, and these are called tad-ek\u0101tma-r\u016bpa<\/i> forms. These may be further divided into the vil\u0101sa<\/i> and sv\u0101\u1e41\u015ba<\/i> forms, which in turn have many different features and can be divided into pr\u0101bhava<\/i> and vaibhava<\/i> forms. As far as the vil\u0101sa<\/i> forms are concerned, there are innumerable pr\u0101bhava-vil\u0101sas,<\/i> headed by K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s expansions as V\u0101sudeva, Sa\u1e45kar\u1e63a\u1e47a, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. Sometimes the Lord thinks of Himself as a cowherd boy, and sometimes He thinks of Himself as Vasudeva\u2019s son, a k\u1e63atriya<\/i> prince, and this \u201cthinking\u201d of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is called His \u201cpastimes.\u201d Actually, He is in the same form in His vaibhava-prak\u0101\u015ba<\/i> and pr\u0101bhava-vil\u0101sa,<\/i> but He appears differently as K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a and Balar\u0101ma. His expansions as V\u0101sudeva, Sa\u1e45kar\u1e63a\u1e47a, Pradyumna and Aniruddha are the original catur-vy\u016bha,<\/i> or four-armed forms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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There are innumerable four-armed manifestations in different planets and different places. For instance, They are manifested in Dv\u0101rak\u0101 and Mathur\u0101 eternally. From the four original four-handed forms are manifested the twenty-four principal four-armed forms, which are called vaibhava-vil\u0101sa<\/i>. They are named differently according to the placement of the conch, club, lotus and disc in Their hands. The same four principal manifestations of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a are found on each planet in the spiritual sky, known as N\u0101r\u0101ya\u1e47a-loka or Vaiku\u1e47\u1e6dha-loka. In Vaiku\u1e47\u1e6dha-loka K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a is manifested in the four-handed form of N\u0101r\u0101ya\u1e47a. From each N\u0101r\u0101ya\u1e47a are manifested the forms of V\u0101sudeva, Sa\u1e45kar\u1e63a\u1e47a, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. Thus N\u0101r\u0101ya\u1e47a is the center, and the four forms of V\u0101sudeva, Sa\u1e45kar\u1e63a\u1e47a, Pradyumna and Aniruddha surround the N\u0101r\u0101ya\u1e47a form. Each of these four forms again expands into three, and these all have different names, beginning with Ke\u015bava. These forms are twelve in all, and, again, They are known by different names according to the placement of the symbols in Their hands.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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As far as the V\u0101sudeva form is concerned, the three expansions manifested from Him are Ke\u015bava, N\u0101r\u0101ya\u1e47a and M\u0101dhava. The three forms expanded from Sa\u1e45kar\u1e63a\u1e47a are known as Govinda, Vi\u1e63\u1e47u and \u015ar\u012b Madhus\u016bdana. (It should be noted that this Govinda is not the same Govinda manifested in V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana as the son of Nanda Mah\u0101r\u0101ja.) Similarly, from Pradyumna expand the three forms known as Trivikrama, V\u0101mana and \u015ar\u012bdhara, and the three forms expanded from Aniruddha are known as H\u1e5b\u1e63\u012bke\u015ba, Padman\u0101bha and D\u0101modara.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHAPTER SIX His Forms Are One and the Same By devotional service one can understand that K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a first of all manifests Himself as svaya\u1e41-r\u016bpa, His personal form, then as tad-ek\u0101tma-r\u016bpa, and then as \u0101ve\u015ba-r\u016bpa. It is … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 19:00:01","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20612\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}