Question: I understand Lord Vishnu comes from Krishna who is the source of all sources, but in Hinduism this conception is not there. My question is why is that? How do they scriptually come to believe that Krishna is the 8th incarnation of Lord Visnu. I did a search on google “define: Krishna” and was quite shocked at the different meanings of Krishna, but the general one that came out was that Krishna is an avatar or incarnation of Lord Vishnu and was wondering how that conception has come about and where in the Vedas is this stated and misunderstood.
Answer by Romapada Swami:
For affairs of the material creation, the Personality of Godhead expands Himself as the purusha avatars. Maha-Vishnu, a plenary portion of Lord Krishna, is the original cause of the material creation, from Him Garbhodakasayi Vishnu expands, and then Kshirodakasayi Vishnu.
Generally, all the incarnations appearing within this material universe are described as being plenary expansions from Kshirodakasayi Vishnu. But we also know that all these various forms of the Lord are existing eternally in the spiritual world and their descent to the material world is called avatar (literally, one who descends) In other words when the Lord descends, the incarnation emanates from or through Ksirodakasayi Vishnu.
Thus in Srimad Bhagavatam, we hear the purusha avatar being described as the seed of all the multifarious incarnations within this universe. (SB 1.3.5) Bhagavatam then goes on to describe the various incarnations of Vishnu (SB 1.3.6-25), among which are included Krishna and Balarama. However, right after this list, it is explained that although Krishna appears to be one of the avatars, He is in fact the Original Personality of Godhead, and that all other incarnations are His plenary expansions: krishnas tu bhagavan svayam (SB 1.3.28) Krishna is the complete whole, and when He descends, all plenary expansions and incarnations, including Maha Vishnu, descend along with Him in His transcendental body.
Thus, in one sense, it is not entirely wrong to say that Krishna is an avatar of Vishnu, and in fact some Vaishnavas understand Krishna as such, being most attracted to the reverential worship of Vishnu or Narayana as the supreme form of worship. However, based on scriptural conclusions of Srimad Bhagavatam, we understand Lord Krishna to be svayam Bhagavan, or the summum bonum.
Another popular source, which many believe to be describing Krishna as the eighth avatar of Vishnu, is Srila Jayadeva Gosvami’s Dasavatara stotra; yet here again we find that after listing ten of the most prominent among the innumerable incarnations of the Lord, the poet concludes his composition with an ode to Lord Krishna who appears in these ten forms.
You can also refer to our previous discussion on this question at this link.
