SB 1.14.8 (1965)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 8
Api devarshina adistah sa kalo ayam upastithah Yada atmano angam akridam bhagawan utsisrikshati.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Api—whether, Devarshina—by the demigod saint (Narada) Adistah—instructed, Sa—that, Kalo—eternal time, Ayam—this, Upasthitam—arrived, Yada—when, Atmano—of His ownself, Angam—plenary portion, Akridam—manifestation, Bhagawan—the personality of Godhead, Utsisrikshati—is going to quit it off.
TRANSLATION
Is He going to quit off His earthly pastimes as it was indicated by Devarshi Narada? Is that time already arrived?
PURPORT
As we have discussed many times the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Sri Krishna has many plenary expansions and each and everyone of them although equally powerful each one of them executes different function in the category of the Supreme Lord. In the Bhagwat Geeta we have different statements by the Lord and each of such statements are meant for different plenary portions or portion of the plenary portions. For example Sri Krishna the Lord says in the Bhagwat Geeta as follows:
"Oh Arjuna, whenever there is indecipline in the matter of occupational duties of the mankind and corruption rampant all over the world, I do incarnate Myself at that time" (B.G. 4/7)
"For deliverance of the faithful and for annihilation of the miscreants as also for re-establishing the fundamental principles of occupational duties I do appear in every age" (B.G. 7/8)
"If I do not examplify the modes of normal activities of the mankind by My own activities then all the human kind will be misdirected and by doing so certainly I shall be the cause of unwanted rise of population." (B.G. 3/24).
"Acts which are executed by the leaders of society are imitated by ordinary members. Whatever is accepted as the standard of action by the leaders naturally the followers adopt them." (B.G. 3/21)
All the above statements of the Lord are meant for different plenary portions of the Lord namely His expansions like Samkarsana, Vasudeva, Pradyumna, Aniruddhya, Narayana, etc. All these expansions are He Himself by different transcendental expansions and still the Lord as Shri Krishna functions in a different sphere of transcendental mellows by exchange of different grades of devotees. And yet Lord Krishna as He is appears once in the day of Brahma (or after a lapse of 8640000000 crores of solar years) in each and every universe and all His transcendental pastimes are displayed in each and every universe in a routine spool. But in that routine spool the functions of Lord Krishna, Lord Vasudeva etc all are complex problems of understanding for layman. There is no difference between the Lord's self and the Lord's transcendental body and the expansions executing differential activities. When the Lord however appears in His Person as Lord Sri Krishna, His other plenary portions also join in Him by His inconceivable potency called Yogamaya and as such Lord Krishna of Vrindaban is different from the Lord Krishna of Mathura or that of Lord Krishna of Dwarka. The Virata Rupa of Lord Krishna is also different from Him by His inconceivable potency. The Virata Rupa exhibited in the battlefield of Kurukshetra is the material conception of His Form. Therefore when Lord Krishna was apparently killed by the bow and arrow of the hunter it should be understood that the Lord left His so called Material body in the material world. The Lord is Kaivalaya and for Him there is no difference of matter and spirit because everything is created from Him. Therefore His quiting one sort of body or acceptance of another body does not mean it is like the ordinary living being. All such differential activities are simultaneously one and different by His inconceivable potency. When Maharaj Yudhisthira was lamenting by apprehension of His disappearance it was just in pursuance of a custom lamenting the disappearance of a great friend but factually the Lord never quits His transcendental body as it is misconceived by less intelligent persons. Such less intelligent persons have been condemned by the Lord Himself in the Bhagwat Geeta and they are known as the Mudhas. The commitment of this particular verse that the Lord left His body means that He left again His plenary portions in the respective Dhamas (transcendental abodes) as He left His Virata Rupa in the material world.