Sakha-candra-nyaya: the logic of seeing the moon through the branches of a tree

Expressions researched:
"example of the moon and the branches of a tree" |"moon appears to be located in the branches of a tree" |"sakha-candra" |"showing the moon through the branches of a tree" |"shown the branches of a tree, and then he is shown the moon through the branches" |"the moon through the branches of a tree"

CC Madhya-lila

Although the moon appears to be located in the branches of a tree, it is actually situated very far away. Similarly, none of the avatāras, or incarnations, of Lord Kṛṣṇa are within this material world, but they are visible by the causeless mercy of the Lord.

CC Madhya 20.248, Translation and Purport:

"There are innumerable incarnations of Kṛṣṇa, and there is no possibility of counting them. We can simply indicate them by giving the example of the moon and the branches of a tree."

Although the moon appears to be located in the branches of a tree, it is actually situated very far away. Similarly, none of the avatāras, or incarnations, of Lord Kṛṣṇa are within this material world, but they are visible by the causeless mercy of the Lord. We should not consider them to belong to this material world. As stated by Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā (BG 9.11):

avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam

paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto mama bhūta-maheśvaram

"Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature as the Supreme Lord of all that be."