Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta Madhya 22.9

svāḿśa-vistāra — catur-vyūha, avatāra-gaṇa

vibhinnāḿśa jīva — tāńra śaktite gaṇana

SYNONYMS

sva-aḿśa-vistāra — the expansion of His personal forms; catur-vyūha — His quadruple form; avatāra-gaṇa — the incarnations; vibhinna-aḿśa — His separated forms; jīva — the living entities; tāńra — His; śaktite — in the category of potency; gaṇana — calculating.

TRANSLATION

"Expansions of His personal self — like the quadruple manifestations of Sańkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Vāsudeva — descend as incarnations from Vaikuṇṭha to this material world. The separated expansions are the living entities. Although they are expansions of Kṛṣṇa, they are counted among His different potencies.

PURPORT

The personal expansions are known as viṣṇu-tattva, and the separated expansions are known as jīva-tattva. Although the jīvas (living entities) are part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they are still counted among His multipotencies. This is fully described by Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.5):

apareyam itas tv anyāḿ prakṛtiḿ viddhi me parām

jīva-bhūtāḿ mahā-bāho yayedaḿ dhāryate jagat

"Besides this inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is another, superior energy of Mine, which comprises the living entities who are exploiting the resources of this material, inferior nature."

Although the living entities are Kṛṣṇa's parts and parcels, they are prakṛti, not puruṣa. Sometimes prakṛti (a living entity) attempts to imitate the activities of the puruṣa. Due to a poor fund of knowledge, living entities conditioned in this material world claim to be God. They are thus illusioned. A living entity cannot be on the level of a viṣṇu-tattva, or the Personality of Godhead, at any stage; therefore it is ludicrous for a living entity to claim to be God. Advanced spiritualists would never accept such a thing. Such claims are made to cheat ordinary, foolish people. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement declares war against such bogus incarnations. The bogus propaganda put out by people claiming to be God has killed God consciousness all over the world. Members of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement must be very alert to defy these rascals, who are presently misleading the whole world. One such rascal, known as Pauṇḍraka, appeared before Lord Kṛṣṇa, and the Lord immediately killed him. Of course, those who are Kṛṣṇa's servants cannot kill such imitation gods, but they should try their best to defeat them through the evidence of śāstra, authentic knowledge received through the disciplic succession.

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