By Giriraj Swami
Today is Balarama Purnima, the appearance day of Lord Balarama, the first expansion of Lord Krishna, who plays as Krishna’s older brother. Listening to Sri Caitanya-bhagavata this morning, I happened to hear a description of Lord Chaitanya’s special affinity for the mood of Lord Balarama: “Every day, Lord Chaitanya, accompanied by Lord Nityananda, visited various Vaishnava’s homes and enacted transcendental pastimes. The Lord was constantly engaged in His ecstasies, manifesting the moods and behaviors of different incarnations—Matsya, Kurma, Narasimha, Varaha, Vamana, Ramachandra, Buddha, Kalki, and Krishna, the son of Nanda Maharaja. Lord Chaitanya displayed these moods, as and when He desired, and then quickly hid them.