Is Parashurma a shaktyavesha avatar or a full avatar?

From: Kaustubh H N

 I have read in ‘Teachings of Lord Chaitanya’ that Lord Parashurama is one of the indirect Shaktyavesha Avataras(i.e. Krsna empowering some jiva with extraordinary power…but in the Dashavatara stotra, we hear keshava dhrta bhrgupati rupa….that means Keshava(Krsna) Himself came as Lord Parashurama……how can both of them be true?

Another question is that what is the difference b/n a sakshat shakthyavesa avatara and the others(as in purusa, guna, lila etc.)….like in this avatara Krsna  comes Himself and in the others also, He comes Himself….could you please throw some light on this….

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Question from Kaustubh.
Prabhu, we have read in the teachings of Lord Chaitanya that Lord Parashurama is one of the indirect Shaktyavash avatars. That is Krishna empowering Sanjeeva with extraordinary power. But in the Dashavatar Sutra, we hear Keshavritha, Prabhupati Rupa.
That means Keshav Krishna himself comes as Lord Parashurama. How can both of them be true? Another question is that what is the difference between Sakshat, Shaktyavash avatar and the others? As in Purusha, Guna Leela, etc. Like in this avatar, Krishna comes himself and in the others also he comes himself.
Could you please throw some light on this? Answer? Parashurama is an incarnation whom the Bhagavatam talks about both in the first canto as well as later on in the ninth canto. So, in the writings of Rupa Goswami, Logo Bhagavatam, which are based on the conversation between Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the Goswamis, which you have read in the teachings of Lord Chaitanya, all the avatars are analysed and Lord Parashurama is described as a Shaktyavesha avatar. That means a living entity who is empowered by Lord Krishna.
And that personality exhibits extraordinary prowess. So now, we have to understand that Vedic scriptures don’t talk just about one-time occurrences. Many of the great personalities like Lord Ram, Lord Krishna, they are in the Supreme Lord, they are avatars.
But they keep coming again and again. And that’s why variant accounts refer to different periods in the cosmic cycle. You know, they may refer to a different Divya Yuga, or they may refer to a different Kalpa.
Different Divya Yuga means another cycle. If the particular avatar is coming every time in one cycle of Satya Yuga, Tattva Yuga, Pariyoga, Kal Yuga, then it may refer to a different Yuga cycle. Or that’s called a Divya Yuga.
And if not, Chatur Yuga cycle. And sometimes an incarnation comes only once in a day of Brahma. So, like Krishna himself comes once in a day of Brahma.
So, variant descriptions of Krishna’s pastimes are actual descriptions of pastimes from different universes, in different Kalpas. So therefore, Parashuram, when he is referred to in the Shavatar Stotra, all the other incarnations referred to are direct incarnations, they are not Shaktyavesh. So, when Jaydev Goswami, who is written in the Shavatar Stotra, is referring here, he is not referring to the Parashuram, who is Shaktyavesh.
So, it is well known that actually when certain roles are to be performed, for example, even the post of Brahma, normally an ordinary soul who has acquired sufficient merits in terms of good karma and in terms of bhakti to the Lord, he is given the post of Brahma. But, if there are certain situations when that, when no such soul is available for the post of Brahma, then the Lord himself becomes Brahma and performs that function. Because ultimately the function has to be done, the role has to be played, so that the particular activity is done properly.
Then the Lord himself takes up that responsibility. Similarly, with respect to Parashuram, when the Kshatriyas become arrogant, then the Kshatriyas have to be disciplined. And, if there is a Jeeva who is qualified, then that Jeeva is empowered and he becomes the Shaktyavesh Avatar.
But if there is no such Jeeva who is available, then Lord Parashuram is actually, the Supreme Lord actually manifests himself as Parashuram and he does the service. So, there is no contradiction because they refer to different phases in the cosmic cycle, different periods in the cosmic cycle. And, what is the difference between Sakshash, Shaktyash Avatar and other Avatars? These various Avatars are classified according to their function.
So, the Guna Avatars, their primary function is to oversee the working of the modes. The Purusha Avatars, they are focusing on interacting with Prakriti. Purusha and Prakriti are a combination that makes things move in the material world.
So, the Purusha Avatars, Mahavishnu, Garbhodaksha Vishnu, they are the Lords of the Prakriti manifestation on three levels. Mahavishnu is overseeing the functioning of Mahat Tattva. So, he is the Super Soul.
He is the Purusha for the whole Mahat Tattva, which is the substratum from which the Universe comes. Then, Garbhodaksha Vishnu is the Purusha, he is the Super Soul for the Universe, for each individual Universe. And for each atom, it is Shivdaksha Vishnu.
Similarly, we have the Leela Avatars, the Yuga Avatars, the Yuga Avatars that come for the Yuga Dharma. The Leela Avatars come primarily to reveal past times that are happening eternally in the spiritual world. And to attract conditioned souls to perform those, to join those past times.
So, the Saksha, Chakya, Shavtars, they come for functional purpose. In a generic sense, what they perform can also be called as Leela. But Leela Avatars specifically refer to, that the Lord, whatever the Lord is performing in the spiritual world, the Lord comes to the material world and performs those past times and attracts the souls over here.
At the same time, the Lord may also perform some additional past times. But the primary objective is to perform Leela. So, Krishna and Ram are Leela Avatars.
They don’t teach any Yuga Dharma. They make use of teachings. But, Lord Krishna came at the end of Gopal Yuga and the deity worship is the Yuga Dharma for Gopal Yuga.
Krishna didn’t teach that much, except for one chapter in Uddhava Gita in the 11th Canto. So, Krishna is primarily Leela Avatar. Similarly, Lord Ram is a Leela Avatar.
Yuga Avatars are those whose specific purpose in coming is to teach Yuga Dharma. They may also do certain activities which may be called as Leela. But their activities may not always be what is eternally happening in the spiritual world.
So, the activities of preaching are not happening in the spiritual world. Because there everybody is a pure devotee. So, preaching in terms of converting people from being materialist to becoming spiritualist is required in the spiritual world.
So, each Avatar has its own focus. The Saksha Chakya has a focus that a certain function in the material world requires some extraordinary empowerment. And the Lord manifests that empowerment so that that function can be performed.
So, essentially, the differences between the six kinds of incarnations are from the functional roles that they are playing. And although they may be the same Supreme Lord, but because they are playing different functional roles, so they are called by different names as different kinds of