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Read one verse of Śrī Caitanya Caritamrta with its Bengali, transliteration, word meanings, translation and study points.
Śrī Caitanya Caritamrta · Text Ādi 2.61
অবতারী নারায়ণ, কৃষ্ণ অবতার ।
তেঁহ চতুর্ভুজ, ইঁহ মনুষ্য–আকার ॥ ৬১ ॥
avatārī nārāyaṇa, kṛṣṇa avatāra
teṅha catur-bhuja, iṅha manuṣya-ākāra
Because Nārāyaṇa has four hands whereas Kṛṣṇa looks just like a man, they say that Nārāyaṇa is the original God whereas Kṛṣṇa is but an incarnation.
Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.ioThree study points drawn from the translation and purport.
Some scholars argue that Nārāyaṇa is the original Personality of Godhead because He has four hands.
Because Śrī Kṛṣṇa has only two hands and looks like a man, they regard Him as Nārāyaṇa’s incarnation.
The purport says that such scholars do not understand the features of the Absolute.
Śrīla Prabhupāda's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.
Revelatory awe. The identity of Caitanya as Kṛṣṇa is established; wonder becomes theological confidence.
The mood of Ādi 2 as a whole, an editorial reading, not the text itself. See the emotional atlas
From Śrīla Prabhupāda's chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:
Mahā-Viṣṇu is the reservoir of all conditioned souls, but, as confirmed in the authoritative scriptures, Lord Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate fountainhead, the source of numerous plenary expansions, including Nārāyaṇa, who is generally accepted by Māyāvādī philosophers to be the Absolute Truth. The Lord’s manifestation of prābhava and vaibhava expansions, as well as partial incarnations and incarnations with delegated powers, are also explained.Read the whole chapter summaryBack to this verse in Ādi 2
Learn the words of the verse.
Take one thing from this verse into your day.
Am I allowing outward appearance alone to shape my understanding of the Absolute?
Write down the mistaken argument and identify the assumption about the number of hands on which it rests.
Study points are short summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport on Vedabase.
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