Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.8

kecit sva-dehāntar-hṛdayāvakāśe

prādeśa-mātraḿ puruṣaḿ vasantam

catur-bhujaḿ kañja-rathāńga-śańkha-

gadā-dharaḿ dhāraṇayā smaranti

SYNONYMS

kecit — others; sva-deha-antaḥ — within the body; hṛdaya-avakāśe — in the region of the heart; prādeśa-mātram — measuring only eight inches; puruṣam — the Personality of Godhead; vasantam — residing; catuḥ-bhujam — with four hands; kañja — lotus; ratha-ańga — the wheel of a chariot; śańkha — conchshell; gadā-dharam — and with a club in the hand; dhāraṇayā — conceiving in that way; smaranti — do meditate upon Him.

TRANSLATION

Others conceive of the Personality of Godhead residing within the body in the region of the heart and measuring only eight inches, with four hands carrying a lotus, a wheel of a chariot, a conchshell and a club respectively.

PURPORT

The all-pervading personality of Godhead resides as Paramātmā in the heart of each and every living entity. The measurement of the localized Personality of Godhead is estimated to expand from the ring finger to the end of the thumb, more or less eight inches. The form of the Lord described in this verse with distribution of different symbols — beginning from the lower right hand up and down to the lower left hand with lotus, wheel of a chariot, conchshell and club respectively — is called Janārdana, or the plenary portion of the Lord who controls the general mass. There are many other forms of the Lord with varied situations of the symbols of lotus, conchshell, etc., and they are differently known as Puruṣottama, Acyuta, Narasiḿha, Trivikrama, Hṛṣīkeśa, Keśava, Mādhava, Aniruddha, Pradyumna, Sańkarṣaṇa, Śrīdhara, Vāsudeva, Dāmodara, Janārdana, Nārāyaṇa, Hari, Padmanābha, Vāmana, Madhusūdana, Govinda, Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇumūrti, Adhokṣaja and Upendra. These twenty-four forms of the localized Personality of Godhead are worshiped in different parts of the planetary system, and in each system there is an incarnation of the Lord having a different Vaikuṇṭha planet in the spiritual sky, which is called the paravyoma. There are many other hundreds and scores of different forms of the Lord, and each and every one of them has a particular planet in the spiritual sky, of which this material sky is only a fragmental offshoot. The Lord exists as puruṣa, or the male enjoyer, although there is no comparing Him to any male form in the material world. But all such forms are advaita, nondifferent from one another, and each of them is eternally young. The young Lord with four hands is nicely decorated, as described below.