What are the differences between plenary portions, expansions and incarnations?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, can I explain incarnation, manifestation, plenary portions? The word plenary actually means complete. So, plenary portion is an axiom.
The complete portion. What do you mean by, how can a portion be complete? Complete means whole, actually. So, what Prabhupada mentioned about plenary portion in our tradition, what it means is that when God expands, the expansion is a portion in the sense that it is coming from the source.
But at the same time, the expansion is equivalent to the source. So, in that sense, it’s a plenary portion. So, Vishnu and Krishna, they are not different.
It is not that, from the point of Rasa, we may say there is a difference. But in Tattva, they are both God. So, plenary portion means that a whole that is manifested from the whole and because it is manifested, so it is a portion but it is complete in itself.
So, it is plenary. And expansion, as I said, it means when there is the material level of reality and there is the spiritual level of reality. So, when there is an expansion in the spiritual level of reality for the, God is in one form, He manifests in many forms.
That is called expansion. So, that can happen in the material world also. When Krishna is performing Rasa Leela, He is one Gopi and then He manifests with many Gopis.
That is an expansion. So, when there is a further manifestation of the Lord at the same level of reality, that is an expansion. But where is the manifestation of the Lord which crosses from one level of reality to another level of reality? That is called an incarnation.
And it descends from the spiritual world to the material world. That is an incarnation. Yes.