the source of the incarnations like the Fish (Matsya), Tortoise (Kurma) etc. All these incarnations are forms of the Visnu prin- ciple of the Supreme Godhead, and are ornamented with sixty transcendental characteristics. The saktyavesa-avataras are,jiva- tattva in whom the potency of the Lord descends. They are the Lord's separated expansions or vibhinnamsa, and are exemplified as Parasurama, Buddha, Prthu, and so on.

"The Supreme Lord's separated parts or vibhinnamsa are of two categories. Ordinary jivas possess only the first fifty of the Lord's sixty-four transcendental characteristics, and these in miniscule quantity. But in the second category of jivas, including demigods like Lord Siva and others, the same fifty characteristics are found in full potency; additionally, the next five qualities are partially evident. However, these five qualities are exhibited in full potency only by the Visnu category. *

An enlightened person fully understands his identity as an eternal particle of life, unborn and undying.
Jagad Guru Speaks

"Thus only the visnu-tattvas are adorned to the fullest degree with the first fifty-five qualities of the Lord. They furthermore display a degree of the next five qualities, for a total of sixty; these five qualities are visible in absolute fullness in Lord Narayana alone. Thus Lord Siva and all the demigods are the Supreme Lord Visnu's servitors. Though the demigods are superior jivas, the Supreme Lord Visnu is the master and controller of the jivas and demigods alike.

Equating the Lord with demigods is ignorance

"People who are ignorant of the visnu-tattva principle of the Supreme Godhead try to equate the Supreme Lord with the demigods. Lord Siva and all the other demigods are the order- carriers of the Supreme Lord Visnu. Mayavadis say that impersonal Brahman is formless, whereas Siva, Brahma and Visnu, the three predominating deities of the three material modes (ignorance, passion and goodness, respectively) have forms. The

* See-Chapter Two for the list of the sixty-four transcendental qualities of the Lord. For a detailed discussion of the subject, please see The Nectar of Devotion, Chan. 21-24. — Ed.