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Gaudiya Discussions Archive » PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY
Discussions on the doctrines of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Please place practical questions under the Miscellaneous forum and set this aside for the more theoretical side of it.

Different lvls. of Bhagavan sequentially... - Krishna, Balaram, Ram, Chaitanya, etc...



any visitor - Mon, 09 Dec 2002 03:22:31 +0530
I was wondering if someone could add or revise this short list of the different lvls. of Bhagavan from highest to lower.  For example, I think the list would start off like this.

1.  Krishna
2.  Balaram
3.  Ram
4.  Chaitanya
5. ?
etc...
any visitor - Mon, 09 Dec 2002 03:27:27 +0530
5.  Nityananda

Preferablly this should be based off scripture however answers based off of spiritual intuition are fine.
Madhava - Mon, 09 Dec 2002 03:40:42 +0530
I wrote in a synopsis at www.gaudiya.com in the Theology-section about Bhagavan and His sequential expansions from Svayam-rupa to Purusa-avataras and the avataras manifest through them into this world. It is based on Caitanya's instructions to Sanatana and Rupa Goswami's Laghu Bhagavatamritam.

There is also a diagram you will certainly find helpful in examining the hierarchy: http://www.gaudiya.com/image/manifestations.gif . Though in the diagram above all the forms of Bhagavan concerned with this world are placed under the category of Svamsa, the others are manifest from the group of Purusa-avataras, more specifically from Ksirodakasayi-Vishnu.

As far as Caitanya and Nityananda are concerned, they are nondifferent from Krishna and Balaram respectively, so they are to be understood parallel to them.