Why does V.P. Call Krishna as part of part?

[Avinash]

In 1st chapter of 5th canto of Vishnu Puran, Parashar tells Maitreya that a black hair of Lord Vishnu incarnated as Krishna and a white hair as Balarama.

 

In 3rd verse of the same chapter, the word viSNoraMshaaMshasambhUticaritaM is mentioned.

As you can see the word aMsha comes twice in this word. It is aMsha + aMsha, meaing part of part.

 

Krishna is supreme. Then why does Vishnu Puran call Krishna as part of part of Vishnu? And why does this Puran say that just a black hair of Vishnu incarnated as Krishna?

[suchandra]

 

In 1st chapter of 5th canto of Vishnu Puran, Parashar tells Maitreya that a black hair of Lord Vishnu incarnated as Krishna and a white hair as Balarama.

 

In 3rd verse of the same chapter, the word viSNoraMshaaMshasambhUticaritaM is mentioned.

As you can see the word aMsha comes twice in this word. It is aMsha + aMsha, meaing part of part.

 

Krishna is supreme. Then why does Vishnu Puran call Krishna as part of part of Vishnu? And why does this Puran say that just a black hair of Vishnu incarnated as Krishna?

 

Since Krishna is absolute there's no difference between Him and His expansions. On the other hand there're lots of mayavadis who write/translate vedic books and somehow always try to defame the Supreme Lord.

 

 

Prabhupāda: So they are innocent people. They have imitated. Our, these so-called sādhu says that Lord Śiva used to smoke gañjā. That is their… So they have become Lord Śiva. Lord Śiva drunk the whole poison ocean and he kept it here. So you drink one drop of poison. But these rascals, they compare with Śiva, with Kṛṣṇa. “Kṛṣṇa danced with girls. Therefore we must have.” These Māyāvādīs do that. I know.

 

Morning Walk Conversation

with His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda

February 20, 1974, Bombay

 

 

[Dark Warrior]

This can be explained with help of Vyuha concept.

 

Sriman Narayana (Vishnu) manifests as 4 Vyuhas - Vasudeva, Aniruddha, Pradyumna and Sankarshana. All the Vaibhava avatars (Rama, Krishna, etc.) proceed from Aniruddha.

 

So, the equation reads - Narayana ---> Aniruddha ---> Krishna. Hence, Krishna is the amsa of the amsa of Vishnu.

 

However, the Lord is infinite, so any amsa of His is also infinite. As conveyed by the Vedic Purnamadam Purnamidam mantra (which talks about the manifestations of Narayana), anything arising from completeness is also complete.

 

Thus, one hair of Vishnu (Aniruddha) is also Vishnu, and even an amsa retains all the Kalyana Gunas of the Lord.

 

The Harivamsa says that Lord Narayana left His serpent bed in the Ocean of Milk to descend to Mathura. This, again, should not be taken to mean that Vishnu was not there in His abode while He was present as Krishna in Mathura. These statements simply emphasise that Krishna is Vishnu, complete in all respects.

 

However, sometimes the rishis and manus are also called 'Amsas' of the Lord. Since these sages have also been differentiated from Paramatma elsewhere, one needs to reinterpret the 'amsa' here to mean the indweller of these beings, viz., the Antaryami Brahman.