Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.3.23

ekonaviḿśe viḿśatime

vṛṣṇiṣu prāpya janmanī

rāma-kṛṣṇāv iti bhuvo

bhagavān aharad bharam

SYNONYMS

ekonaviḿśe — in the nineteenth; viḿśatime — in the twentieth also; vṛṣṇiṣu — in the Vṛṣṇi dynasty; prāpya — having obtained; janmanī — births; rāma — Balarāma; kṛṣṇau — Śrī Kṛṣṇa; iti — thus; bhuvaḥ — of the world; bhagavān — the Personality of Godhead; aharat — removed; bharam — burden.

TRANSLATION

In the nineteenth and twentieth incarnations, the Lord advented Himself as Lord Balarāma and Lord Kṛṣṇa in the family of Vṛṣṇi [the Yadu dynasty], and by so doing He removed the burden of the world.

PURPORT

The specific mention of the word bhagavān in this text indicates that Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa are original forms of the Lord. This will be further explained later. Lord Kṛṣṇa is not an incarnation of the puruṣa, as we learned from the beginning of this chapter. He is directly the original Personality of Godhead, and Balarāma is the first plenary manifestation of the Lord. From Baladeva the first phalanx of plenary expansions, Vāsudeva, Sańkarṣaṇa, Aniruddha and Pradyumna, expands. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is Vāsudeva, and Baladeva is Sańkarṣaṇa.