Who is Narayana? Tell me everything.

 Nārāyaṇa (नारायण) is one of the forms and names of Vishnu. Nārāyaṇa is He who dwells in the primal celestial waters, as well as He who dwells within all human beings. Nārāyaṇa lies in blissful Yogic sleep in the primal waters, dreaming the multiverse into being.

He is the Source and Essence of all. We all abide and have our whole existence within His consciousness, and He abides within us. Ultimately everything is part of Him and nothing is separate. He is the Supreme Being.

“This universe is Nārāyaṇa, the Imperishable, the Supreme, the Goal, multi-headed and many-eyed, the resplendent, the source of delight for the whole universe. This universe is the Purusha; it subsists on That, the Eternal, which transcends the universe, the omnipresent Absolute which destroys all suffering. Nārāyaṇa is the protector of the universe, the Lord of the Self, the perpetual, the auspicious, the indestructible, the Goal of all creation, the Supreme object worthy of being known, the Self of all beings, the Refuge unfailing. The Lord Nārāyaṇa is the Supreme Absolute; Nārāyaṇa is the Supreme Reality; Nārāyaṇa is the Supreme Light; Nārāyaṇa is the Supreme Self; Nārāyaṇa is the Supreme Meditator; Nārāyaṇa is the Supreme Meditation. Whatever all this universe is, whatever is seen or heard of, the Eternal Divine Being stands supreme, pervading all this from inside and outside alike. He is the Limitless, Imperishable, Omniscient, residing in the ocean of the heart, the cause of the happiness of the universe, the Supreme End of all striving, dwelling in the ether of the heart… We bow again and again to the omni-formed Being, the Truth, the Law, the Supreme Absolute, the Purusha of blue color decked in yellow, the Centralized Force, the Power, the All-Seeing One. We commune ourselves with Nārāyaṇa, and meditate on Vasudeva. May that Vishnu inspire our consciousness.” - Krishna Yajur Veda, Taittiriya Aranyaka, Nārāyaṇa Sukta

“He is without birth and death, of radiant splendour, the Creator of the universe and the Lord of all! Indeed, He who is the invisible cause of all, who knoweth no deterioration, who is the all-pervading soul, the centre round which everything moveth, the substance in which the three gunas of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas co-inhere, the Universal Soul, the immutable, the material out of which hath been created this universe, the Creator Himself, the Controlling Lord, the invisible dweller in every object, progenitor of this universe of five elements, who is united with the six high attributes, is the Pranava or Aum of the Vedas, is infinite, incapable of being moved by any force save His own will, illustrious, the embodiment of the mode of life called Sannyasa, who floated on the waters before the creation, who is the Source whence hath sprung this mighty frame, who is the great combiner, the uncreated, the invisible essence of all, the Great Immutable, bereft of those attributes that are knowable by the senses, who is the universe itself, without beginning, birth, and decay, possessed of infinite wealth. That Grandsire of all creatures became incarnate in the race of the Andhaka-Vrishnis for the increase of virtue.” - Mahabharata, Adi Parva

“I am Nārāyaṇa, the Source of all things, the Eternal, the Unchangeable. I am the Creator of all things, and the Destroyer also of all. I am Vishnu, I am Brahma, and I am Shankara, the chief of the Devas. I am Raja Vaisravana, and I am Yama, the lord of the deceased spirits. I am Shiva, I am Soma, and I am Prajapati Kashyapa. And… I am he called Dhatri, and he also that is called Vidhatri, and I am Yagnya embodied. Fire is my mouth, the earth my feet, and the Sun and the Moon are my eyes; the Heaven is the crown of my head, the firmament and the cardinal points are my ears; the waters are born of my sweat. Space with the cardinal points are my body, and the Air is my mind... Whatever is obtained by humans by the practice of truth, charity, ascetic austerities, and peace and harmlessness towards all creatures, and such other handsome deeds, is obtained because of my arrangements. Governed by my ordinance, humans wander within my body, their senses overwhelmed by me. They move not according to their will but as they are moved by me.” - Mahabharata, Varna Parva

According to the Vishnu Mahapurana, Nārāyaṇa is the inherently existent imperishable Brahman; He is Ishvara; He is Purusha; with the three gunas He is the cause of creation, preservation, and destruction; He is the parent of Nature, of consciousness, and all ingredients of the universe. He is Hiranyagarbha, Hari, and Shankara. He is the root of the universe, the support of all things, and the universe consists of Him. He is unborn, imperishable, undecaying, Self-existent. He always exists everywhere, and all things exist in Him; He is all things.

Nārāyaṇa is described by the seers as having the Divine blackish-blue color of heavily water-laden clouds. He has four arms, holding a padma (lotus), the great mace Kaumodaki, the conch shell Panchajanya, and the Sudarshana Chakra (discus). But this form is just for us humans to better connect with. Nārāyaṇa’s true universal form (Vishvarupa) is infinitely beyond the ordinary limits of human perception, comprehension, or even imagination.

Once liberated, we can enjoy infinite bliss for eternity in the company of Nārāyaṇa, and/or merge fully into Him.

What is the difference between Narayana and Krishna? Which one do you like more personally and why?

 There is no difference between Narayana and Krishna. Both are the same. SriMadhvacharya, in the Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya, says that thinking there is a difference between Srihari and His avatars is a great sin and is one of the nine forms of hatred. And hatred in Bhagavan leads to Naraka, not Moksha.

110. The knowledge (belief) of non-difference between Paramatma and Jeevas; the knowledge of Paramatma having no attributes; the knowledge of Him having incomplete attributes; equating Paramatma with others; knowledge that others are higher than Him; knowledge of difference in His various forms and attributes and actions (contd)

111. The knowledge of birth and death for Him in His avatars; the hatred of His devotees; the condemnation of all those knowledge sources which proclaim His supremacy; knowledgeable people term these as the nine forms of hatred.

[Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya, Chapter 1, Sarva Shaastraartha Nirnaya]

Not only this, but the Puranas also tell the same.

यथा सर्वेश्‍वरो विष्‍णुः सर्वशक्‍तिसमन्‍वितः ।
तथैव तत्‍प्रभावाश्‍च अवतारा न संशयः ॥
Just as the Supreme Lord of all, Sri Vishnu, is completely endowed with all-pervading powers, exactly so are His glorious incarnations (avatāras). Of this, there is absolutely no doubt.

[Padma Purana]

Even in the Pancharaatra Aagamas, Lord Brahma praises Lord Vishnu as “नमस्तेस्तु नृसिंहादि मूर्त्यभेदाय विष्णवे,” which clearly tells that there is no difference between the avataras of Lord Vishnu and Lord Vishnu Himself. Be it in mood, be it in valor, be it in knowledge, be it in strength, be it in beauty, be it in opulence, be it in attributes, all avataras of Lord Vishnu are the same as Lord Vishnu Himself. The same Lord Vishnu incarnates on the earth. When Lord Vishnu incarnates on the earth, no earthly rules apply to Him. He acts as a human being to teach humanity to the humans and to delude the ignorant people.

Let me explain to you with an example. You have two lamps. You light both the lamps. Is the fire in those lamps different? No. Both are fire. We cannot say the fire in lamp 1 is superior to the fire in lamp 2. So, similarly, the Bhagavan is the same, be it Moola Roopi Narayana or Avataara roopa. There doesn’t exist any difference. In the Bhagavata, there comes an incident wherein a Brahmana’s sons go missing directly after birth. It escalates so much that Arjuna too couldn’t protect the Brahmana’s baby. Thus, Krishna and Arjuna have to go to Vaikuntha. There, Krishna enters Lord Ananta Padmanabha in Vaikuntha and merges with Him, and then brings the babies back to the Brahmana. This shows that Lord Krishna and Lord Vishnu are the same.

Another incident also comes: when, for the 18th time, Krishna defeated Jarasandha, He went to Gomantaka Parvata. There, Garuda came and crowned Krishna. Actually, in Vaikuntha, the devatas had gathered. Lord Vishnu asked all of them to close their eyes. Then Bali comes there and steals Lord Vishnu’s crown and runs away. Garuda chases Bali, defeats him, takes the crown from him, and reaches the Gomantaka Parvata, where Krishna was there. Garuda crowns that crown on Krishna’s head, thus proving Narayana Himself is Krishna.

Even when Lord Narayana comes on the earth as Srinivasa, and Lakshmi comes as Padmavati, in the first meeting of Srinivasa and Padmavati, Padmavati asks Srinivasa to introduce Himself. Srinivasa says, “My name is Krishna. I am from Chandravamsha. My mother is Devaki, and my father is Vasudeva. Subhadra is my sister. Arjuna is my friend. Pandavas are my cousins.” Thus, this also proves that Krishna and Narayana/Srinivasa are the same. Plus, Lord Vishnu, in the Bhavishyottara Purana Srinivasa Kalyana, shows a lot of dramas like not marrying Padmavati without Lakshmi coming from Kolhapura, etc. Therefore, He is paripoorna in every mood.

Now coming to which one do I like more personally, and why? I like Lord Vishnu and Krishna both. Actually, I should not say this, because both are the same. So, even if I say I like Lord Vishnu, it means I like Lord Krishna automatically, and even if I say I like Lord Krishna, then it would mean I like Lord Vishnu too. It is basically like saying, ‘There is a man named X who wears red goggles. He wore green goggles today. Whom do you like? The red-goggled person or the green-goggled person?’ Does that even make sense? No.

So, for me and the shaastras, both are the same and have no difference. I call Lord Vishnu by the name of Lord Krishna, and Lord Krishna by the name of Lord Vishnu. Today, I went to the Dhuma Lakshmi Narasimha temple, which is our Kuladevata. We had given a pooja seva, so we got the opportunity to do pooja to Lord Narasimha. I did the archana of tulasi to Lord Narasimha, chanting the Krishna Ashtottara Shatanamavali, and read Arjuna Kruta Durga stotra for Lakshmidevi. I kept calling Narasimha as ‘Krishna '! Krishna!’ like this. So, I don’t see any difference between any avatar of Lord Vishnu.

Even for Lakshmidevi, be it any avatara, be it Sitadevi, Rukmini Devi, Satyabhama Devi, Sridevi, Bhudevi, Durgadevi, Tulasi, Jayanti, Harani, Jayaa, Maya, Kruti, Shanti, etc., all are the same Mahalakshmi Devi only. There is no difference between the Moola Roopa and Avataara roopas of Lakshminarayana. Be it SitaRama, be it Rukmini Satyabhama Sameta Krishna, or Gopika Krishna (Gopikas having the presence of Lakshmi within them), LakshmiNarasimha, they all are the same Lakshminarayana, and not different from Him.

In simplest terms, you have Lord Vishnu. If the four arms become two arms and the same Vishnu wears a peacock feather and holds a flute, He is Krishna, and if He removes that peacock feather and flute and holds a bow and arrow, He is Rama. Coming to why I consider that? Because, first of all, the shaastras say so, the acharyas say so, and personally, I also feel the same, and it makes a lot of sense.

Hope this helps!
Jay SriRam!
SriAnantaroopadhara SriLakshmiNarayana Abhinna ShriKrishnarpanamastu!