Avatāras as stated Śrī Madhvācārya

Śrī Gaura Nārayaṇa continued, “In every millennium, the Supreme Lord appears in His various forms when the earth becomes overburdened with demonic personalities and when religious principles diminish. Sometimes He appears as an aquatic form, sometimes as an animal form, sometimes as a brāhmaṇa, sometimes as a kṣatriya and so on. Although He takes these different forms, He is never influenced by distress and happiness. In the material eyes of conditioned people, He appears to grow in the womb, or appears as a very young milksucking child, sometimes afraid, sometimes distressed, sometimes hungry, sometimes suffering pangs of separation from relatives and friends, sometimes confined, sometimes bewildered, sometimes dirty, sometimes lusty, and sometimes angry. In this way, displaying His human-like pastimes, He deceives the demons.

“Those who are not devoted to Lord Viṣṇu, and are in ignorance, do not know the real tattva and all the spiritual mysteries about Him. They therefore blaspheme Him and His very near and dear devotees, and are thrown into the most terrible hell. Those who envy the Lord are called demonic fools, for they never attain Him, and they appear again and again, birth after birth, in various demonic species of life in this material world. On the other hand, those who are His surrendered servants, and worship Him with great devotion, certainly attain the supreme destination.

“The Lord Himself appears in this world in different forms to exhibit different pastimes, and in this way He infuses bhakti into the hearts of devotees. The Lord has three types of incarnations: (1) incarnations of knowledge, (2) incarnations of prowess and (3) incarnations of both knowledge and prowess.

“Through the incarnations of knowledge, He rescues the devotees by imparting Vedic knowledge; by the incarnations of prowess, He maintains and protects the devotees by killing the demons; and by the incarnations of both knowledge and prowess, He performs both activities. According to Śrī Madhvācārya’s philosophy, Vedavyāsa, Kapila, Dattātreya, Haṃsa, Buddha and so forth, are the knowledge incarnations of Lord Viṣṇu.

“Kalki, Varāha, Kūrma, Narasiṃha, Vāmana, Paraśurāma, Yajña, Dhanvantari and so forth, are incarnations of strength; while Hayagrīva, Ṛṣabha, Matsya and so forth, are incarnations of both knowledge and strength.

कृष्णरामादिरूपेषु बलकार्यो जनार्दनः
दत्तव्यासादिरूपेषु ज्ञान-कार्यस-तथा प्रभुः

kṛṣṇarāmādirūpeṣu balakāryo janārdanaḥ
dattavyāsādirūpeṣu jñāna-kāryasa-tathā prabhuḥ

Mahābhārata-tātparya-nirṇaya (2.25)

Janārdana Śrī Hari performs His strength pastimes in the form of Kṛṣṇa, rāma, and so forth; and performs His knowledge pastimes in the form of Dattātreya, Vyāsadeva and so forth. Though all incarnations are full of knowledge and power, He chooses to manifest His knowledge-incarnations and powerincarnations for propagating the knowledge pastimes and the strength pastimes, respectively. Some incarnations blissfully bestow their mercy upon the devotees.

“Lord Viṣṇu’s eternal planet is Vaikuṇṭha. At the beginning of creation, two transcendental planets, Śvetadvīpa and Anantāsana are manifested. In the upper portion is Vaikuṇṭha, in the middle is Śvetadvīpa, and in the lower portion is Anantāsana. The Lord is present in all these places with His Lakṣmī-devī, served and glorified by demigods such as Brahmā, rudra, Ananta Śeṣa, Garuḍa, Viśvaksena, Nanda, Sunanda, Jaya, Vijaya and so forth.

“There are two divisions in all places: the liberated place (muktasthāna) and the non-liberated place (amukta-sthāna). In the liberated place, Vedavāṇi is worshipped by Ṣeśa, Garuḍa, Indra, Kāma; and His eternal associates are worshipped by Nanda, Sunanda and so forth. In the non-liberated place, Brahmavāṇī is being worshipped by Amukta Śeṣa, Garuḍa and other associates. Lord Viṣṇu is the instrumental cause of the universe, and not the ingredient cause. Though He is separate from the world, He is present everywhere.”