The different forms of Kṛṣṇa are distributed throughout the universe to give pleasure to the devotees. It is not that devotees are born only in India. There are devotees in all parts of the world, but they have simply forgotten their identity. These forms incarnate not only to give pleasure to the devotee but to reestablish devotional service and perform other activities which vitally concern the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Some of these forms are incarnations mentioned in the scriptures, such as the Viṣṇu incarnation, Trivikrama incarnation, Nṛsiṁha incarnation and Vāmana incarnation.
In the Siddhārtha-saṁhitā, there is a description of the twenty-four forms of Viṣṇu, and these forms are named according to the position of the symbolic representations in Their four hands. When one describes the positions of objects in the hands of the Viṣṇu mūrti, one should begin with the lower right hand then move to the upper right hand, upper left hand and, finally, to the lower left hand. In this way,
- Vāsudeva may be described as being represented by mace, conch shell, disc and lotus flower;
- Saṅkarṣaṇa is represented by mace, conch shell, lotus flower and disc. Similarly;
- Pradyumna is represented by disc, conch shell, mace and lotus flower;
- Aniruddha is represented by disc, mace, conch shell and lotus flower.
In the spiritual sky the representations of Nārāyaṇa are twenty in number and are described as follows:
- Śrī Keśava (flower, conch shell, disc, mace);
- Nārāyaṇa (conch, flower, mace and disc);
- Śrī Mādhava (mace, disc, conch and flower);
- Śrī Govinda (disc, mace, flower and conch);
- Viṣṇu-mūrti (mace, flower, conch and disc);
- Madhusūdana (disc, conch, flower and mace);
- Trivikrama (flower, mace, disc and shell);
- Śrī Vāmana (conch, disc, mace and flower);
- Śrīdhara (flower, disc, mace and shell);
- Hṛṣīkeśa (mace, disc, flower and conch);
- Padmanābha (shell, flower, disc and mace);
- Dāmodara (flower, disc, mace and shell);
- Puruṣottama (disc, flower, shell and mace);
- Acyuta (mace, flower, disc and shell);
- Nṛsiṁha (disc, flower, mace and shell);
- Janārdana (flower, disc, shell and mace);
- Śrī Hari (shell, disc, flower and mace);
- Śrī Kṛṣṇa (shell, mace, flower and disc);
- Adhokṣaja (flower, mace, shell and disc), and;
- Upendra (shell, mace, disc and flower).