20.244
sankarsana, matsyadika,--dui bheda tanra
sankarsana--purusavatara, lilavatara ara
SYNONYMS
sankarsana—Sankarsana; matsya-adika—and incarnations such as the fish; dui—two; bheda—differentiations; tanra—His; sankarsana—Sankarsana; purusa-avatara—incarnations of Visnu; lila-avatara—pastime incarnations; ara—and "The first personal expansion is Sankarsana, and the others are incarnations like the fish incarnation.
Sankarsana is an expansion of the Purusa, or Visnu.
The incarnations such as Matsya, the fish incarnation, appear in different yugas for specific pastimes.
PURPORT
The purusa-avataras are the Lords of the universal creation.
These are the Karanodakasayi Visnu, Garbhodakasayi Visnu and Ksirodakasayi Visnu.
There are also lila-avataras, and these include (1) Catuhsana, (2) Narada, (3) Varaha, (4) Matsya, (5) Yajna, (6) Nara-Narayana, (7) Kardami Kapila, (8) Dattatreya, (9) Hayasirsa, (10) Hamsa, (11) Dhruvapriya, or Prsnigarbha, (12) Rsabha, (13) Prthu, (14) Nrsimha, (15) Kurma, (16) Dhanvantari, (17) Mohini, (18) Vamana, (19) Bhargava Parasurama, (20) Raghavendra, (21) Vyasa, (22) Pralambari Balarama, (23) Krsna, (24) Buddha and (25) Kalki.
These twenty-five Personalities of Godhead are known as lila-avataras.
Because they appear in each day of Brahma, or in each kalpa (millennium), they are sometimes known as kalpa-avataras.
Of these incarnations, Hamsa and Mohini are not very permanent or well known, but They are listed among the prabhava-avataras.
Kapila, Dattatreya, Rsabha, Dhanvantari and Vyasa are eternally situated and very widely known.
They are also counted among the prabhava incarnations.
Kurma, Matsya, Narayana, Varaha, Hayagriva, Prsnigarbha, and Baladeva, the killer of Pralambasura, are counted among the vaibhava-avataras.