Lord Balarama Appearance by Lakshman das


13675275098?profile=RESIZE_584xWho is Lord Balarama?

Lord Balarama is an expansion of Lord Krishna glorified in the Vedic Puranas and Itihasas. Krishna is the spiritually manifest Supreme Person, whose internal spiritual energy is the all-pervading Brahman. He is glorified as Narayana, Vasudeva, Mahavishnu, Hari, Vishnu, and many other names. Shiva and Brahma are said to be His qualitative expansions. He is the Supreme Lord, the Lord of all universes. Everything emanates from Him and dissolves back in Him. He is the cause of creation, maintenance, and dissolution of everything and every living entity. His chatur-vyuha (four-handed) expansions are Vasudeva, Sankarshana; Pradyumna; and Aniruddha. The Bhagavatam (12.11.21) says,

vasudevah Sankarsanah pradyumnah purushah svayam aniruddha iti brahman murtir vyuho abhidhiyate

“O brahmana (saint) Shaunaka, the quadruple primary expansions of Pususha

(Supreme Soul Narayana or Krshna) are Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha.”

The primary expansion of Krishna is said to Sankarsana, the infinite snake Ananta on which the Lord rests. Sankarsana beholds all universes and maintains everything united. The descended form of Sankarsana is Lord Balarama, who appeared as the elder brother of Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna and Sankarsana are originally one, although they appear different to the external eye. Lord Balarama assists Lord Krishna in His glorious transcendental lilas. Lord Balarama appeared as the younger brother of Lord Ramachandra by the end of treta-yuga and He appeared as Nityananda Prabhu to distribute the mercy of Krishna to people with Caitanya Mahaprabhu five hundred years ago.

Once when the four Kumaras visited the bottom of the universe, they found Lord Sankarsana as a gigantic snake with numerous hoods. The Lord was seen in deep meditation beholding innumerable universes on His head. Since He holds everything together, He is called Sankarsana, the binder who unites all. Lord Shiva always meditates Lord Sankarsana as the Bhagavatam (5.17.16) tells,

bhavani-nathaih stri-ganarbuda-sahasrair-avarudhyamano bhagavatash-chatur-murter-maha-purushasya turiyam tamarsim murtim prakrtim-atmanah Sankarsana-samjnam- atma samadhi-rupena sannidhapyaitad-abhigrnan bhava upadhavati

 

 

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