Sometimes people ask who is Lord Balarama? And the answer is that He is the brother of Lord Krishna. However, He does many things besides that.
How we understand this is to first recognize that, according to Vedic scripture such as the Srimad Bhagavata Purana, it is described that Lord Krishna is the primeval Lord, the original Personality of Godhead, so He can expand Himself into unlimited forms with all potencies. They are no different from Him, but may exhibit differences in form and function.
He first expands Himself into Baladeva, or Balarama, who is considered Krishna’s second body and brother. Balarama assists in Lord Krishna’s innumerable spiritual pastimes in both the spiritual and materials realms.
Lord Balarama is also Lord Sankarshana, the predominator of the creative energy. He creates and is also the shelter of the material and spiritual worlds. By the will of Krishna and the power of the spiritual energy, Lord Balarama creates the spiritual world, which consists of the planet Goloka Vrindavana [the supermost spiritual planet] and the Vaikuntha planets [in the spiritual sky]. (Chaitanya-caritamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.255-6)
Lord Balarama especially assists Lord Krishna in the creation of the material world. After Balarama has expanded Himself into Lord Maha-Sankarshana, He expands Himself into four different forms, including: 1) Karanadakashayi Vishnu [Maha-Vishnu], 2) Garbhodakashayi Vishnu [the Vishnu expansion in each universe], 3) Ksirodakashayi Vishnu [the Supersoul in each living being], and 4) Sesha, also called Seshanaga, who lies down and is the support and resting place for Lord Vishnu. These four plenary portions assist in the material cosmic manifestation. Sesha is Balarama’s form who assists in the Lord’s personal service. He is also called Ananta, meaning unlimited, because He assists the Lord in His unlimited variety of pastimes. (Chaitanya-caritamrita, Adi-lila, 5.4-6, 8-11).
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To explain more clearly, all expansions of the Lord begin with Sri Krishna. For His pastimes in one of the highest levels of the spiritual realm, called Dvaraka, Sri Krishna expands Himself into Balarama, who then expands Himself into Pradyumna and Aniruddha. These four expand into a second quadruple which is present in the unlimited Vaikuntha planets of the spiritual sky. The second quadruple is known as Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha. They are changeless, transcendental expansions of the Supreme Lord, Krishna. In the second quadruple, Vasudeva is an expansion of Krishna, and Sankarshana is a representative of Balarama.
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