Suta said: in the beginning the supreme lord assumed, for the creation of the worlds, the form of the original person: the integrity of the material realm composed of the sixteen elements of the ten knowing and working senses, the mind and the five elements and the cosmic intelligence and such. resting in his meditative slumber in that water, out of the lotus that spread from the lake of his navel, brahma was manifested, the master of the progenitors in the universe. one supposes the different worlds as expansions to be part of the form of the fortunate one that constitutes the excellence of the purest existence. in a perfect spiritual vision his form is seen as having numerous legs, thighs, arms and faces, with wonderful heads, ears, eyes and noses, all glowing with countless garlands, earrings and dresses. this source of the multifarious incarnations is the imperishable seed from which the plenary portions originate as also the portions thereof, such as the gods, the human beings and the animals. the first position the godhead narayana created was that digf the sons of brahma the kumaras who performed the most difficult discipline of continuous celibacy. the supreme enjoyer secondly assumed the form of a boar for the welfare of the earth that had sunken to the lowest regions and lifted her up from the ocean. thirdly he accepted his presence among the seers in the form of narada muni for the sake of evolving the vedic knowledge concerning the performance of devotional service free from material motives. fourth born as the twin sons of murti the wife of king dharma he in the form of nara narayana subjected himself to severe penances to attain control over the senses. fifth he, carrying the name of kapila, gave an exposition to the brahmin asuri on the nature of metaphysics and the elements of creation, because in the course of time that knowledge had been lost. sixth as the son of atri named dattatreya being born from anasuya who prayed for him, he lectured to alarka, prahlada and others about transcendence. seventh being born from akuti as yajna, the son of prajapati ruci, he together with his son yama and other demigods, ruled during the period of svayambhuva manu and became the indra. eighth, from the wife of king nabhi, merudevi, the almighty lord took birth as king rishabha and showed the path of perfection respected by people of all stages of life. his ninth incarnation he accepted in response to the prayers of the sages, whereupon he as prithu ruled the earth for the sake of collecting milking her produces, which made her most attractive. assuming the form of a fish matsya, he after the period of cakshusha manu protected vaivasvata manu, keeping him in a boat afloat the waters when the world was deeply inundated. eleventh the mighty lord in the form of a tortoise kurma sustained the mandaracala hill of the theists and atheists that served as a pivot in the ocean. twelfth he appeared as dhanvantari lord of medicine and thirteenth he appeared before the atheists as an alluring beautiful woman and gave nectar to the demigods. in his fourteenth incarnation he, half as a lion, appeared as nrisimha, who with his nails on his lap tore apart the king of the atheists like a carpenter splitting cane. fifteenth he assumed the form of vamana the dwarf brahmana who went to the arena of sacrifice of maharaja bali to beg for only three steps of land, concealing his wish to regain the three worlds. in his sixteenth incarnation he as bhrigupati or parasurama saw that the ruling class was hostile towards the brahmins and acted twenty one times against them. seeing that the common people were less intelligent he, seventeenth, incarnated as vyasadeva taking birth from satyavati with parasara muni as his father, for the purpose of dividing the desire tree of the veda into several branches. next he performed in a superhuman way having assumed the form of a divine human being rama, by controlling the indian ocean and such, so that he could act for the sake of the godly souls. nineteenth as also twentieth bhagavan took birth in the vrishni family as balarama and krishna and thus removed the burden from the world. thereafter at the beginning of the age of kali he shall appear in gaya bihar as the son of mother anjana with the name buddha for the purpose of deluding the ones envious of the theists. next, at the conjunction of two yugas this one and the next, when there is hardly a ruler to be found who is not a plunderer, the lord of the creation carrying the name of kalki will take birth as the son of vishnu yasa. dear brahmins, the incarnations of the lord who appeared from the ocean of goodness are as innumerable as the thousands of streams we have from inexhaustible sources of water. all the powerful sages, the godly souls, the manus and their progeny as also the prajapatis the founding fathers are aspects of the lord. they are all part of or plenary portions of krishna, the supreme lord bhagavan in person who offers protection during all ages and in all worlds against disturbances because of the enemies of the king of heaven indra. anyone who in the morning and the evening carefully recites these mysterious births of the lord, will find relief from all miseries of life. all these forms of the lord that by the qualities of the material energy were created with the ingredients of the cosmic intelligence and other elements, originated from his self awareness that is without a form. they are there for the less intelligent observer to be perceived the way one sees clouds in the sky or dust in the air. this unmanifested self in the beyond that cannot be seen or heard and has no form that is affected by the modes of nature, constitutes the reality of the subtle self of the individual soul who takes birth repeatedly. as soon as one by self knowledge arrives at the rejection of all these gross and subtle forms that impose themselves on the soul because of ignorance, one arrives at the realization of the absolute truth. with the illusory energy subsided one is endowed with the full knowledge of enlightenment so that one thus being mindful will be situated in ones own glory. this is how the scholars arrived at the description of the birth and activities of the actually unborn and non engaged lord of the heart; it is the hidden meaning of the vedas. residing within every living being he is the omnipotent master and witness of the six qualities the six objects of the senses and the mind and opulences bhaga, whose play is spotless, who is independent and not affected by creation, destruction and maintenance. because of his expert manipulations his activities, names and forms cannot be understood by the speculations and speeches of those with a poor fund of knowledge, just like fools cannot understand an actors performance. only he who renders unconditional, uninterrupted, favorable service to his fragrant lotus feet may know the transcendental glories of the all powerful creator with the wheel of the chariot in his hand. when one in this world succeeds in thus being cognizant with the personality of godhead who embraces all his universes as their lord and who inspires for the complete of the spirit of ecstasy, one will never again have to experience there the dreadful repetition of births. this book called the bhagavatam about the activities of the one hailed in the verses the fortunate one, the supreme personality of godhead krishna and his devotees that as a supplement to the vedas a purana was compiled by the seer of god vyasadeva, is there for the ultimate good of bringing success, happiness and perfection to all people. this story, that as the cream from all the vedic literatures and histories was extracted by srila vyasadeva, he delivered to his son who is the most respectable one among the self realized souls. he suka in his turn told it to emperor parikchit who, surrounded by the greatest sages, sat down at the ganges to fast until his death. now that krishna has left for his abode and with him also proper conduct and spiritual insight have vanished, this purana bright as the sun has appeared at the horizon for the sake of everyone who in the age of quarrel kali yuga has lost his vision. oh brahmins, when the story was recited there by that powerful great sage, i, being perfectly attentive by his mercy, also managed to understand it, so that i will now relate it to you also, exactly as i learned it free from deviations by my own mind.