BHAGVAT HOW RIVER GANGES ORIGINATED FROM NARAYNA
TRANSLATION
O KING, THE WATER FROM LORD BRAHMA'S KAMANDALU WASHED THE LOTUS FEET OF LORD VAMANADEVA, WHO IS KNOWN AS URUKRAMA, THE WONDERFUL ACTOR. THUS THAT WATER BECAME SO PURE THAT IT WAS TRANSFORMED INTO THE WATER OF THE GANGES, WHICH WENT FLOWING DOWN FROM THE SKY, PURIFYING THE THREE WORLDS LIKE THE PURE FAME OF THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD.
PURPORT
HERE WE UNDERSTAND THAT THE GANGES BEGAN WHEN THE WATER FROM LORD BRAHMA'S KAMANDALU WASHED THE LOTUS FEET OF LORD VAMANADEVA. BUT IN THE FIFTH CANTO IT IS STATED THAT THE GANGES BEGAN WHEN VAMANADEVA'S LEFT FOOT PIERCED THE COVERING OF THE UNIVERSE SO THAT THE TRANSCENDENTAL WATER OF THE CAUSAL OCEAN LEAKED THROUGH.
AND ELSEWHERE IT IS ALSO STATED THAT LORD NARAYANA APPEARED AS THE WATER OF THE GANGES. THE WATER OF THE GANGES, THEREFORE, IS A COMBINATION OF THREE TRANSCENDENTAL WATERS, AND THUS THE GANGES IS ABLE TO PURIFY THE THREE WORLDS. This is the description given by Shrila Vishvanatha Cakravarti Thakura.
TRANSLATION
Lord Brahma and all the predominating deities of the various planetary systems began to worship Lord Vamanadeva, their supreme master, who had reduced Himself from His all-pervading form to His original form. They collected all the ingredients and paraphernalia for this worship.
PURPORT
VAMANADEVA FIRST EXPANDED HIMSELF TO THE UNIVERSAL FORM AND THEN REDUCED HIMSELF TO THE ORIGINAL VAMANA-RÜPA. THUS HE ACTED EXACTLY LIKE LORD KRSHNA, WHO, AT THE REQUEST OF ARJUNA, FIRST SHOWED HIS UNIVERSAL FORM AND LATER RESUMED HIS ORIGINAL FORM AS KRSHNA.
THE LORD CAN ASSUME ANY FORM HE LIKES, BUT HIS ORIGINAL FORM IS THAT OF KRSHNA (krshnas tu bhagavan svayam).
According to the capacity of the devotee, the Lord assumes various forms so that the devotee can handle Him. This is His causeless mercy. When Lord Vamanadeva resumed His original form, Lord Brahma and his associates collected various paraphernalia for worship with which to please Him.
