By devotional service one can understand that Kṛṣṇa first of all manifests Himself as svayaṁ-rūpa, His personal form, then as tad-ekātma-rūpa, and then as āveśa-rūpa. It is in these three features that He manifests Himself in His transcendental form. The feature of svayaṁ-rūpa is the form by which Kṛṣṇa can be understood by one who may not understand His other features. In other words, the form by which Kṛṣṇa is directly understood is called svayaṁ-rūpa, or His personal form. The tad-ekātma-rūpa is that form which most resembles the svayaṁ-rūpa, but there are some differences in the bodily features. The tad-ekātma-rūpa is divided into two manifestations: the personal expansion (svāṁśa) and the pastime expansion (vilāsa). As far as the āveśa-rūpa is concerned, when Kṛṣṇa empowers some suitable living entity to represent Him, that living entity is called āveśa-rūpa or śaktyāveśa-avatāra.
The personal form of Kṛṣṇa can be divided into two: svayaṁ-rūpa and svayaṁ-prakāśa. As far as His svayaṁ-rūpa (or pastime form) is concerned, it is in that form that He remains always in Vṛndāvana with the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana. This personal form (svayaṁ-rūpa) can be further divided into the prābhava and vaibhava forms. For example, Kṛṣṇa expanded Himself in multiple forms during the rāsa dance in order to dance with each and every gopī who took part in that dance. Similarly, He expanded himself into 16,108 forms in Dvārakā when he married 16,108 wives. There are some instances of great mystics' expanding their bodily forms by the yoga process, but Kṛṣṇa did not expand Himself in that way. In Vedic history, Saubhari Ṛṣi expanded himself into eight forms by the yoga process, but those expansions were simply reflections, for Saubhari remained one. But when Kṛṣṇa manifested Himself in different forms, each and every one of them was a separate individual. When Nārada Muni visited Kṛṣṇa at His different palaces in Dvārakā, he was astonished at this, and yet Nārada is never astonished to see the expansions of a yogīs body, since he knows the trick himself.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describes Nārada Muni's astonishment at seeing Kṛṣṇa's expansions in Dvārakā. Nārada wondered how the Lord was present with His queens in each and every one of His 16,108 palaces. With each queen, Kṛṣṇa Himself was in a different form, acting in different ways. In one form He was talking with His wife, in another form He was petting His children, and in another form He was performing some household duty. These different activities are conducted by the Lord when He is in His "emotional" forms, which are known as vaibhava-prakāśa expansions. Similarly, there are other unlimited expansions of Kṛṣṇa's forms, but even when they are divided or expanded without limit, they are still one and the same. There is no difference between one form and another. That is the absolute nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.39.44–57) it is stated that when Akrūra was accompanying Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma from Gokula to Mathurā, he entered the waters of the Yamunā River and could see all the planets of the spiritual sky. He also saw the Lord in His Viṣṇu form, as well as Nārada and the Four Kumāras, who were worshiping Him. As stated in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.40.7):
- anye ca saṁskṛtātmāno vidhinābhihitena te
- yajanti tvan-mayās tvāṁ vai bahu-mūrty-eka-mūrtikam
“The Supreme Lord's many worshipers—the Vaiṣṇavas, or Āryans—are purified by the various processes of worship they perform according to their convictions and spiritual understanding. Each process of worship involves understanding different forms of the Lord, as mentioned in the scriptures, but the ultimate idea is to worship the Supreme Lord Himself.”
In His vaibhava-prakāśa feature, the Lord manifests Himself as Balarāma. The Balarāma feature is as good as Kṛṣṇa Himself, the only difference being that Kṛṣṇa's bodily hue is blackish and Balarāma's is whitish. The vaibhava-prakāśa form was also displayed when Kṛṣṇa appeared before His mother Devakī in the four-handed form of Nārāyaṇa, just when He entered the world. Then at the request of His parents He transformed Himself into a two-handed form. Thus He sometimes manifests four hands and sometimes two. The two-handed form is vaibhava-prakāśa, and the four-handed form is prābhava-prakāśa. In His personal form, Kṛṣṇa is just like a cowherd boy, and He thinks of Himself in that way. But when He is in the Vāsudeva form, He thinks of Himself as the son of a kṣatriya and feels like a kṣatriya, a princely administrator.
In His two-handed form as the cowherd son of Nanda Mahārāja, Kṛṣṇa fully exhibits His opulence, beauty, wealth, attractiveness and pastimes. Indeed, in some Vaiṣṇava literature it is found that sometimes, in His form as Vāsudeva, He becomes attracted to His form of Govinda in Vṛndāvana. Thus as Vāsudeva He sometimes desires to enjoy as Govinda does, although the Govinda form and the Vāsudeva form are ultimately one and the same. In this regard, there is a passage in the Lalita-mādhava (4.19), in which Kṛṣṇa addresses Uddhava as follows: "My dear friend, the form of this cowherd boy Govinda attracts Me. Indeed, I wish to be like the damsels of Vraja, who are also attracted by this form of Govinda." Similarly, later in the Lalita-mādhava (8.34), Kṛṣṇa says: "Oh, how wonderful it is! Who is this person? After seeing Him, I am so much attracted that I now desire to embrace Him just like Rādhikā."