When Krishna has all the qualities of all the other incarnations, why are other incarnations needed?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
What about him? Hare Krishna.
Question. When Krishna is the source of all incarnations and contains within himself all the qualities of all the other incarnations, why are other incarnations needed at all? Why doesn’t Krishna descend all the time? Answer. Spiritual life, even in the spiritual world, is an irreducible diversity, not an imposed monopoly.
Krishna is known as Rasaraj. Eko bahusyaam. It is said that one absolute truth became many, that’s what the Shudhis say.
Raso vayi sahab, the absolute truth is filled with rasa and rejoices in the reciprocation of rasa. So therefore, we have to understand that the nature of spiritual enjoyment is that although the same activity can be done eternally and that will bring happiness forever, still there is variety. As Prabhupada would say, variety is the mother of enjoyment.
The problem with the variety in the material world is that it becomes pale and stale soon, whereas the variety in the spiritual world stays on attractive forever because it is Krishna’s all-attractiveness manifesting through all the varieties. So Krishna himself desires multiple relationships in multiple moods. So yes, Krishna himself manifests 64 qualities and has the most intimate relationships with his devotees, but that doesn’t mean that all other incarnations or all other expansions of the Lord in the spiritual world are redundant.
The nature of the spiritual realm is there is variety and the Brihadbhagavatamrit describes how when Gopakumar goes from the material world to the spiritual world, he goes to Vaikuntha, he goes to Ayodhya, he goes to Dwarka and eventually finally he reaches Vrindavan. So this describes the spiritual odyssey which ultimately culminates in return to the most intimate abode of the most sweet manifestation of the absolute truth. But the important point to understand is that when Gopakumar is in Vaikuntha, at that time the devotees of Vishnu are completely satisfied in their relationship with him.
It is not that they want something else. It is not that they are hankering for Krishna. They are completely satisfied there and they think that Vishnu is the supreme Lord and they are correct in that and they think that Vishnu is the absolute truth.
In fact, even they even think that actually all other incarnations come from Vishnu. So there is transcendental subjectivity in the spiritual realm and we have to recognize that transcendental subjectivity and acknowledge that and that’s what brings, that’s the beauty of spiritual life that every devotee with whatever manifestation of the Lord he is reciprocating, he or she is reciprocating, that reciprocation is perfect and eternal fulfillment. Now, the Bhagavatam also describes that whatever form a particular person desires to worship, the Lord manifests according to that particular form and out of mercy for the devotee.
So in this way, the Lord is reciprocal. So in the spiritual world itself, there are multiple manifestations of the Lord who relish asas with the different devotees and the Lord doesn’t manifest just one aspect of the spiritual world. Even if that is the idea, the Lord manifests when he descends various aspects of the spiritual world.
So that’s why sometimes he descends as Ram, sometimes he descends as Varaha, Vamana and all these incarnations, they demonstrate how spiritual life is variegated. So can Krishna do the work that all the incarnations do? Obviously. Here it is not a question of possibility.
Here it is a question of aesthetic sensibility. Conceptual possibility is concerned. Krishna can do everything.
Krishna doesn’t need any other incarnations. Krishna doesn’t need any other demigods. We could even say Krishna doesn’t need any of us also.
Krishna is Atmarama and he can completely self-satisfy. We are not talking about conceptual possibility over here. We are talking about aesthetic sensibility.
And because Krishna has got multiple, Krishna is Rasa Raj, he reciprocates rasa in multiple ways, in multiple moods with multiple devotees. And that’s how the spiritual world is variegated. And Krishna manifests that spiritual variegatedness even in this world.
So the multiple incarnations, we don’t use the word needed. It’s not that Krishna needs anything. It’s not the multiple incarnations are needed.
But that there are multiple manifestations of the Lord in the spiritual realm. And they descend according to time, place, circumstance. So that the variety of the spiritual world is manifested in this world.
And conditioned souls can be attracted back to the spiritual world by seeing this extraordinary variety. This is the richness of spiritual life, richness of devotional life in the spiritual world. There are so many forms of the Lord and it is the richness of even the life as a seeker.
We have variety even in our contemplation. We can contemplate on Krishna, we can contemplate on Ram, we can contemplate on Narasimha. And that way we can increase our ecstasy.
So when we talk about aesthetic sensibility or rasa, we have to recognize that variety is intrinsic to aesthetic sensibility. And that variety is manifested in the multiple forms of the absolute truth that are there in the spiritual world and that descend periodically in the material world. Thank you.