SB 10.84.18 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

अथापि काले स्वजनाभिगुप्तये बिभर्षि सत्त्वं खलनिग्रहाय च । स्वलीलया वेदपथं सनातनं वर्णाश्रमात्मा पुरुष: परो भवान् ॥ १८ ॥

Verse text

athāpi kāle sva-janābhiguptaye bibharṣi sattvaṁ khala-nigrahāya ca sva-līlayā veda-pathaṁ sanātanaṁ varṇāśramātmā puruṣaḥ paro bhavān

Synonyms

atha api — nonetheless ; kāle — at the correct time ; sva — jana — of Your devotees ; abhiguptaye — for the protection ; bibharṣi — You assume ; sattvam — the mode of goodness ; khala — of the wicked ; nigrahāya — for the punishment ; ca — and ; sva — Your ; līlayā — by the pastimes ; veda — patham — the path of the Vedas ; sanātanam — eternal ; varṇa — āśrama — of the divine system of occupational and spiritual divisions of society ; ātmā — the Soul ; puruṣaḥ — the Personality of Godhead ; paraḥ — Supreme ; bhavān — Your good self .

Translation

Nonetheless, at suitable times You assume the pure mode of goodness to protect Your devotees and punish the wicked. Thus You, the Soul of the varṇāśrama social order, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, maintain the eternal path of the Vedas by enjoying Your pleasure pastimes.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Nonetheless, at suitable times You assume the pure mode of goodness to protect Your devotees and punish the wicked. Thus You, the Soul of the varṇāśrama social order, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, maintain the eternal path of the Vedas by enjoying Your pleasure pastimes. KB 10.84.18 “Although You are transcendental to this entire material creation and are the Supreme Lord and the Supersoul of all living entities, You appear on this earth by Your internal potency to protect Your devotees and destroy the miscreants. By such an appearance You reestablish the principles of eternal religion, which human society forgets by long association with the material energy. Our dear Lord, You are the creator of the social orders and spiritual statuses of human society according to quality and work, and when these orders are misguided by unscrupulous persons, You appear and set them right.

Purport

This verse describes the Lord’s enlightening people in general ( jana-saṅgraha ) and His imitation of worldly behavior. Because the Personality of Godhead remains always perfect, the body He manifests when He comes to this world is not touched by material goodness; rather, it is a manifestation of the pure goodness known as viśuddha-sattva, the same spiritual substance that constitutes His original form.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

You put on this pretense in order to protect the devotees, destroy the demons and establish dharma. This is explained in three verses. Being the supreme, perfect lord, you accept a suddha sattva form (sattvam vibharsi) (to protect the devotees and destroy the demons), and by your conduct (svalilaya) accept the eternal path of the Vedas. Because of this, you institute the varnas and asramas (varnasrama atma). But still you remain the supreme among all the different forms that you manifest as mentioned above (purusah parah).

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Though you have inconceivable śakti, at some time you clearly support sattva to protect your devotees and punish the wicked. In doing that as your pastime, you institute varṇāśrama and you nourish the path of the eternal Vedas. This is incomprehensible to us. How can we understand you? You surpass all methods of intelligence (paraḥ).

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

Though you support rajas for creation, at the time of maintenance (kale) you support or protect sattva, to protect (guptaye) your devotees (sva) by promiting real dharma (abhi) and punish the demons by killing them. You nourish the eternal path of the Vedas- which are your form. vedo nārāyaṇaḥ sākṣāt: the Vedas are directly Nārāyaṇa and are born from him. (SB 6.1.40) Or you nourish the path of the Vedas, which always exists. Thus it must always be protected. Or you nourish the path of the Vedas, which spreads (atanam), giving of the highest benefit (san). You do this by spreading varṇāśrama, because you are the supreme Lord (paraḥ puruṣaḥ). You are the protector internally as antaryāmī, similulator of the senses, and externally as various avatāras, by destroying the obstacles created by non-believers. This is for the benefit of all jīvas. Or thus, at the appropriate time, you support the sattvic heart or you support existence (sattvam). This means you become visible to protect the devotees and punish the demons. Thus you support the path of the Vedas.