Devanagari
बिभर्षि रूपाण्यवबोध आत्माक्षेमाय लोकस्य चराचरस्य
सत्त्वोपपन्नानि सुखावहानिसतामभद्राणि मुहु: खलानाम् ॥ २९ ॥
Verse text
bibharṣi rūpāṇy avabodha ātmā
kṣemāya lokasya carācarasya
sattvopapannāni sukhāvahāni
satām abhadrāṇi muhuḥ khalānām
Synonyms
bibharṣi
—
You accept
;
rūpāṇi
—
varieties of forms, such as Matsya, Kūrma, Varāha, Rāma and Nṛsiṁha
;
avabodhaḥ ātmā
—
in spite of having different incarnations, You remain the Supreme, full of knowledge
;
kṣemāya
—
for the benefit of everyone, and especially the devotees
;
lokasya
—
of all living entities
;
cara
—
acarasya — moving and nonmoving
;
sattva
—
upapannāni — all such incarnations are transcendental ( śuddha-sattva )
;
sukha
—
avahāni — full of transcendental bliss
;
satām
—
of the devotees
;
abhadrāṇi
—
all inauspiciousness or annihilation
;
muhuḥ
—
again and again
;
khalānām
—
of the nondevotees .
Translation
O Lord, You are always in full knowledge, and to bring all good fortune to all living entities, You appear in different incarnations, all of them transcendental to the material creation. When You appear in these incarnations, You are pleasing to the pious and religious devotees, but for nondevotees You are the annihilator.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O Lord, You are always in full knowledge, and to bring all good fortune to all living entities, You appear in different incarnations, all of them transcendental to the material creation. When You appear in these incarnations, You are pleasing to the pious and religious devotees, but for nondevotees You are the annihilator.
KB 10.2.29
“Our dear Lord,” the demigods prayed, “it is very difficult to understand Your eternal form or personality. People in general are unable to understand Your actual form; therefore You are personally descending to exhibit Your original eternal form. Somehow people can understand the different incarnations of Your Lordship, but they are puzzled to understand the eternal form of Kṛṣṇa with two hands, moving among human beings exactly like one of them. This eternal form of Your Lordship gives ever-increasing transcendental pleasure to the devotees, but for the nondevotees this form is very dangerous.” As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa is very pleasing to the sādhus (paritrāṇāya sādhūnām) [Bg. 4.8]. But this form is very dangerous for the demons because Kṛṣṇa also descends to kill the demons. He is, therefore, simultaneously pleasing to the devotees and dangerous to the demons.
Purport
This verse explains why the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears as an incarnation again and again. The incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead all function differently, but their main purpose is
paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
— to protect the devotees and annihilate the miscreants. Yet even though the
duṣkṛtīs,
or miscreants, are annihilated, this is ultimately good for them.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
In this verse they explain that the Lord has many avataras such as Matsya and Kurma. He has forms of pure knowledge (avabodhah). These forms are all pure sattva (sattvopapannani). They destroy the wicked (khalanam) and protect the devoted (satam).
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
You, the basic form (avabodha ātmā), the son of Devakī, manifest many forms such as the puruṣas authorized by the Vedas through śuddha-sattva (sattvena) endowed with sac-cid-ānanda, and you also manifest the material universe. This means that because you appear through your own śakti in the form of Devakī, even though you are her son, you are not impeded by matter. You do this for the benefit of the people by protecting the pious and punishing the demons. You stop the demons from performing sinful actions. The pious are those who follow dharma and the wicked are those who do not follow.
Or, though you are the son of Devakī, the purpose of the forms mentioned in the previous verse is explained in this verse. If all these other forms carry out perfect action, what can be said of your form as Svayam Bhagavān?