nrsimha-rama-krsnesu sad-gunyam paripuritam--Padma-purana).
In Nrsimha, Rama, and Krishna, all the six opulences are fully manifest."
How to understand this statement of Padma Purana? How about other incarnations? Which features are not fully manifest in them?
And Ramayana says that Rama had only half of the power of Visnu- about what power is it talking then?
nrsimha-rama-krsnesu sad-gunyam paripuritam--Padma-purana).
In Nrsimha, Rama, and Krishna, all the six opulences are fully manifest."
How to understand this statement of Padma Purana? How about other incarnations? Which features are not fully manifest in them?
And Ramayana says that Rama had only half of the power of Visnu- about what power is it talking then?
This is the position taken by the Goswamis. These three are sad aisvarya. However, I have not seen anything written by our purvacaryas describing which of the six opulences are not fully manifest in any of the innumerable other avataras. As far as I know, the most exhaustive text on the different avataras is Laghu-bhagavatamrita, but even there this information is not found. I have not studied the Ramayana enpugh to comment on this statement, but the Goswamis clearly place Rama in a circle of more intimate loving reciprocation than Visnu, and by this standard of measurement he is more complete.
So if it was not important enough for the Goswamis to deal with it, we need not be concerned. And these three are prominent in Gaudiya Vaisnavism and in the Bhagavatam.
This is the position taken by the Goswamis. These three are sad aisvarya. However, I have not seen anything written by our purvacaryas describing which of the six opulences are not fully manifest in any of the innumerable other avataras. As far as I know, the most exhaustive text on the different avataras is Laghu-bhagavatamrita, but even there this information is not found. I have not studied the Ramayana enpugh to comment on this statement, but the Goswamis clearly place Rama in a circle of more intimate loving reciprocation than Visnu, and by this standard of measurement he is more complete.
So if it was not important enough for the Goswamis to deal with it, we need not be concerned. And these three are prominent in Gaudiya Vaisnavism and in the Bhagavatam.
Thank you Guru Maharaja
This is something to add to GM's discussion. I think it is a similar issue with the fact that sometimes Krsna and Balarama are supposed to originating from a black hair and white hair of Visnu. Avataras come through Mahavisnu ( atleast they appear to come through him) but that does not mean that he is their origin. He is the lord of the sristi lila so that has its importance and it is not incorrect to say that incarnations come through him. The verse that speaks about half the power etc perhaps maybe talking about the fact that Rama manifests half the power of Visnu in his human incarnation. Apart from that in all other Vaisnava sampradayas, Rama is the most worshiped incarnation after Krsna by far. Perhaps it is to do with the fact that he is human-like and there is more intimacy possible than with Narayana. For Madhavas and Ramanujas, only Vaikuntha exists and both Rama and Krsna are Narayan's incarnations and as such they are described in terms of Narayana's power. I don't know where this verse originates,"Thousand names of visnu are equal to one name of Rama and three names of Rama equal to one name of Krsna."
Bhaktivinoda Thakur cites Narsingha, Rama and Krsna as the most important forms of the Lord for Gaudiyas using this reference from Jiva Gosvami’s Krsna Sandarbha:-
TEXT 91
The Padma Purana Uttara-khanda explains:
nrsimha-rama-krsnesu
sad-gunya-paripuranam
" The six opulences of wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation are fully present in the forms of Lord Nrsimha, Rama and Krsna."
Although all the forms of the Personality of Godhead fully display these six opulences, these three forms are singled out as especially displaying them. Because the most significant word "nrsimha-rama-krsnesu" is a dvandva-compound and because the most important word is generally placed at the end of a compound-word, we may conclude that because Krsna is placed at the end of this compound, He is the most important of all the forms of the Lord.
I will cite one more verse from the Krsna Sandarbha of Jiva Gosvami about Ramacandra:-
Anuccheda 22
TEXT 1
The Lord's eighteenth incarnation is described in next verse of Srimad Bhagavatam (1.3.22):
" In the eighteenth incarnation, the Lord appeared as King Rama. In order to perform some pleasing work for the demigods, He exhibited superhuman powers by controlling the Indian Ocean and then killing the atheist Kink Ravana who was on the other side of the sea."
TEXT 2
The word "naradevatam" in this verse refers to Lord Ramacandra, the descendant of Maharaj Raghu and the word "atah param" indicates that Lord Rama appeared in the eighteenth cycle of four yugas. Lord Rama is directly the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The chapters of the Skanda Purana known as the Rama-gita recount Lord Rama's revelation of His Universal Form as well as the prayers offered to Him by Brahma, Visnu and Siva.
This is something to add to GM's discussion. I think it is a similar issue with the fact that sometimes Krsna and Balarama are supposed to originating from a black hair and white hair of Visnu. Avataras come through Mahavisnu ( atleast they appear to come through him) but that does not mean that he is their origin. He is the lord of the sristi lila so that has its importance and it is not incorrect to say that incarnations come through him. The verse that speaks about half the power etc perhaps maybe talking about the fact that Rama manifests half the power of Visnu in his human incarnation. Apart from that in all other Vaisnava sampradayas, Rama is the most worshiped incarnation after Krsna by far. Perhaps it is to do with the fact that he is human-like and there is more intimacy possible than with Narayana. For Madhavas and Ramanujas, only Vaikuntha exists and both Rama and Krsna are Narayan's incarnations and as such they are described in terms of Narayana's power. I don't know where this verse originates,"Thousand names of visnu are equal to one name of Rama and three names of Rama equal to one name of Krsna."
Bhaktivinoda Thakur cites Narsingha, Rama and Krsna as the most important forms of the Lord for Gaudiyas using this reference from Jiva Gosvami’s Krsna Sandarbha:-
TEXT 91
The Padma Purana Uttara-khanda explains:
nrsimha-rama-krsnesu
sad-gunya-paripuranam
" The six opulences of wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation are fully present in the forms of Lord Nrsimha, Rama and Krsna."
Although all the forms of the Personality of Godhead fully display these six opulences, these three forms are singled out as especially displaying them. Because the most significant word "nrsimha-rama-krsnesu" is a dvandva-compound and because the most important word is generally placed at the end of a compound-word, we may conclude that because Krsna is placed at the end of this compound, He is the most important of all the forms of the Lord.
I will cite one more verse from the Krsna Sandarbha of Jiva Gosvami about Ramacandra:-
Anuccheda 22
TEXT 1
The Lord's eighteenth incarnation is described in next verse of Srimad Bhagavatam (1.3.22):
" In the eighteenth incarnation, the Lord appeared as King Rama. In order to perform some pleasing work for the demigods, He exhibited superhuman powers by controlling the Indian Ocean and then killing the atheist Kink Ravana who was on the other side of the sea."
TEXT 2
The word "naradevatam" in this verse refers to Lord Ramacandra, the descendant of Maharaj Raghu and the word "atah param" indicates that Lord Rama appeared in the eighteenth cycle of four yugas. Lord Rama is directly the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The chapters of the Skanda Purana known as the Rama-gita recount Lord Rama's revelation of His Universal Form as well as the prayers offered to Him by Brahma, Visnu and Siva.
Very good reference. Thank you for that.