SB 11.1.4 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

नैवान्यत: परिभवोऽस्य भवेत् कथञ्चिन् मत्संश्रयस्य विभवोन्नहनस्य नित्यम् । अन्त:कलिं यदुकुलस्य विधाय वेणु- स्तम्बस्य वह्निमिव शान्तिमुपैमि धाम ॥ ४ ॥

Verse text

naivānyataḥ paribhavo ’sya bhavet kathaṣcin mat-saṁśrayasya vibhavonnahanasya nityam antaḥ kaliṁ yadu-kulasya vidhāya veṇu- stambasya vahnim iva śāntim upaimi dhāma

Synonyms

na — not ; eva — certainly ; anyataḥ — from another cause ; paribhavaḥ — defeat ; asya — of this (dynasty) ; bhavet — there can be ; kathaṣcit — by any means ; mat — saṁśrayasya — which has fully taken shelter of Me ; vibhava — with its power ; unnahanasya — unrestricted ; nityam — always ; antaḥ — within ; kalim — a quarrel ; yadu — kulasya — the Yadu dynasty ; vidhāya — inspiring ; veṇu — stambasya — of a clump of bamboo plants ; vahnim — a fire ; iva — as ; śāntim — peace ; upaimi — I shall achieve ; dhāma — My eternal personal abode .

Translation

Lord Kṛṣṇa thought, “No outside force could ever bring about the defeat of this family, the Yadu dynasty, whose members have always been fully surrendered to Me and are unrestricted in their opulence. But if I inspire a quarrel within the dynasty, that quarrel will act just like a fire created from the friction of bamboo in a grove, and then I shall achieve My real purpose and return to My eternal abode.”

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

They cannot at all be censured by anyone else since they have unrestricted power, having taken constant shelter of me. Making a quarrel within the Yadu family like a fire in a bamboo grove, and thus destroying them, I will then attain my abode. Should relieving the earth of this burden be undertaken by someone else? The answer is given. They cannot even be censured (paribhavaḥ) by anyone else, what to speak of being killed. They have taken shelter of me and have unrestricted power. Arranging from them to go to Prabhāsa and having them quarrel, I will arrange for their destruction (śāntim), and then attain Vaikuṇṭha. I will go to Vaikuṇṭha in my portion-- as my form of Nārāyaṇa (which merged into Kṛṣṇa when he appeared on earth). Just as a wind causes fire by friction of bamboos, destroys them, and then disappears, I will arrange for friction among the Yadus, destroy them, and then disappear.

Purport

Even though Lord Kṛṣṇa wanted to arrange for the disappearance of the members of the Yadu dynasty, He could not personally kill them, as He had killed many demons, because the Yadu dynasty was His own family. One might ask why Lord Kṛṣṇa did not arrange for them to be killed by others. Therefore it is stated in this verse, naivānyataḥ paribhavo ’sya bhavet kathaṣcit: because the Yadu dynasty was the Lord’s own family, no one within the universe was capable of killing them, not even the demigods. In fact, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura points out that no one within the universe was capable of even insulting the members of the Yadu dynasty, what to speak of defeating or killing them. The reason is given here by the words mat-saṁśrayasya. The members of the Yadu dynasty had fully taken shelter of Kṛṣṇa, and therefore they were always under the personal protection of the Lord. It is stated, māre kṛṣṇa rākhe ke, rākhe kṛṣṇa māre ke: If Kṛṣṇa protects someone, no one can kill him, and if Kṛṣṇa wants to kill someone, no one can save him. Kṛṣṇa had originally requested all of His associates, along with the demigods, to appear on the earth to assist Him in His pastimes. Now that His pastimes were coming to an end on this particular planet and would be transferred to another planet in another universe, Kṛṣṇa wanted to remove all of His associates from the earth so that in His absence they would not constitute a burden. Since the powerful Yadu dynasty, being the Lord’s personal family and army, could not possibly be defeated by anyone, Kṛṣṇa arranged an internal quarrel, just as the wind in a bamboo forest sometimes rubs the bamboos together and creates a fire that consumes the entire forest. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī has pointed out that ordinary people, hearing of the adventures of the Yadu family, might think that the heroes of the Yadu dynasty are as worshipable as Kṛṣṇa or that they are independent controllers. In other words, people polluted by Māyāvāda philosophy might see the Yadu dynasty as being on the same level as Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, to establish that even the most powerful living entity can never equal or surpass the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa arranged for the destruction of the Yadu dynasty.