[Advaita-l] Avatar's body is transcended

[S Jayanarayanan]

 Here's the Mahabharata reference for Krishna letting go of the body and "becoming" Narayana:
 
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m16/m16004.htm
 
"The high-souled one, thinking of the destruction of the Vrishnis and the Andhakas, as also of the previous slaughter of the Kurus, concluded that the hour (for his own departure from the world) had come. He then restrained his senses (in Yoga). Conversant with the truth of every topic, Vasudeva, though he was the Supreme Deity, wished to die, for dispelling all doubts and establishing a certainty of results (in the matter of human existence), simply for upholding the three worlds and for making the words of Atri’s son true. Having restrained all his senses, speech, and mind, Krishna laid himself down in high Yoga.
A fierce hunter of the name of Jara then came there, desirous of deer. The hunter, mistaking Keshava, who was stretched on the earth in high Yoga, for a deer, pierced him at the heel with a shaft and quickly came to that spot for capturing his prey. Coming up, Jara beheld a man dressed in yellow robes, rapt in Yoga and endued with many arms. Regarding himself an offender, and filled with fear, he touched the feet of Keshava. The high-souled one comforted him and then ascended upwards, filling the entire welkin with splendour. When he reached Heaven, Vasava and the twin Ashvinis and Rudra and the Adityas and the Vasus and the Viswedevas, and Munis and Siddhas and many foremost ones among the Gandharvas, with the Apsaras, advanced to receive him. Then, O king, the illustrious Narayana of fierce energy, the Creator and Destroyer of all, that preceptor of Yoga, filling Heaven with his splendour, reached his own inconceivable region."
 
https://sanskritdocuments.org/mirrors/mahabharata/txt/mbh16.itx
 
sa chintayAno.andhakavRRiShNinAshaM; kurukShayaM chaiva mahAnubhAvaH |
mene tataH sa~NkramaNasya kAlaM; tatashchakArendriyasaMnirodham || 18||
 
sa saMniruddhendriyavA~NmanAstu; shishye mahAyogamupetya kRRiShNaH |
jarAtha taM deshamupAjagAma; lubdhastadAnIM mRRigalipsurugraH || 19||
 
sa keshavaM yogayuktaM shayAnaM; mRRigAsha~NkI lubdhakaH sAyakena |
jarAvidhyatpAdatale tvarAvAM;staM chAbhitastajjighRRikShurjagAma || 20||
 
athApashyatpuruShaM yogayuktaM; pItAmbaraM lubdhako.anekabAhum || 20||
 
matvAtmAnamaparAddhaM sa tasya; jagrAha pAdau shirasA chArtarUpaH |
AshvAsayattaM mahAtmA tadAnIM; gachChannUrdhvaM rodasI vyApya lakShmyA || 21||
 
divaM prAptaM vAsavo.athAshvinau cha; rudrAdityA vasavashchAtha vishve |
pratyudyayurmunayashchApi siddhA; gandharvamukhyAshcha sahApsarobhiH || 22||
 
tato rAjanbhagavAnugratejA; nArAyaNaH prabhavashchAvyayashcha |
yogAchAryo rodasI vyApya lakShmyA; sthAnaM prApa svaM mahAtmAprameyam || 23||