avatārā hy asaṅkhyeyā hareḥ sattva-nidher dvijāḥ yathāvidāsinaḥ kulyāḥ sarasaḥ syuḥ sahasraśaḥ
Synonyms
avatārāḥ—incarnations; hi—certainly; asaṅkhyeyāḥ—innumerable; hareḥ—of Hari the Lord; sattva-nidheḥ—of the ocean of goodness; dvijāḥ—the Brahmins; yathā—as it is; avidāsinaḥ—inexhaustible; kulyāḥ—rivulets; sarasaḥ—of water; syuḥ—are; sahasraśaḥ—thousands of.
Translation
Oh Brahmins, the incarnations of the Lord are innumerable as much as there are innumerable revulets coming out of the inexhaustible sources of water.
Purport
The incarnations of the Personality of Godhead as they are mentioned hereinbefore are not complete list. They are only a partial view of all the incarnations. There are many others such as Shri Hayagriva, Hari, Hansa, Prishnigarbha, Bibhu, Satyasen, Vaikuntha, Sarbabhouma, Viswksen, Dharmasetu, Sudhama, Yogeswara, Vrihatbhanu, etc. in the by gone ages. Sri Prahlad Maharaj said in his prayer, "My Lord, you manifest as many incarnations as there are species of life namely the acquatic, the vegetables, the raptiles, the birds, the beasts, the men, the demigods etc. just for the maintenance of the faithful and for the annihilation of the unfaithful. You advent yourself as such in accordance with the necessity of the different Yugas. In the Kali yuga you have incarnation garbed as the devotee". This incarnation of the Lord garbed in the Kali Yuga is meant to indicate Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. There are many other places both in the Bhagwat and other scriptures in which the incarnation of the Lord as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is explicitely mentioned. In the Brahma Samhita also it is said indirectly that although there are many incarnations of the Lord as Rama, Nrishingha, Varaha, Matsya, Kurma and many others, the Lord Himself sometime incarnates in person. Lord Krishna and Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu are not therefore incarnations but He is the original source of all other incarnations. This will be clearly explained in the next sloka. So the Lord is the inexhoustible source for innumerable incarnations which are not always mentioned but such incarnations are distinguished by specific extraordinary performances which are impossible to be done by any living being. That is the general test to identify an incarnation of the Lord directly and indirectly empowered. The incarnations mentioned above are almost plenary portions. Such as the Kumars are empowered with transcendental knowledge. Sri Narada is empowered with devotional service. Maharaj Prithu was empowered incarnation with executive function. The Matsya incarnations is directly plenary portion and similarly the innumerable incarnations of the Lord are manifested all over the universes constantly without any stop as there is constant flow of water from the water falls.