Devanagari
स्वशान्तरूपेष्वितरै: स्वरूपै-
रभ्यर्द्यमानेष्वनुकम्पितात्मा ।
परावरेशो महदंशयुक्तो
ह्यजोऽपि जातो भगवान् यथाग्नि: ॥ १५ ॥
Verse text
sva-śānta-rūpeṣv itaraiḥ sva-rūpair
abhyardyamāneṣv anukampitātmā
parāvareśo mahad-aṁśa-yukto
hy ajo ’pi jāto bhagavān yathāgniḥ
Synonyms
sva
—
śānta — rūpeṣu — unto the peaceful devotees of the Lord
;
itaraiḥ
—
others, nondevotees
;
sva
—
rūpaiḥ — according to their own modes of nature
;
abhyardyamāneṣu
—
being harassed by
;
anukampita
—
ātmā — the all-compassionate Lord
;
para
—
avara — spiritual and material
;
īśaḥ
—
controller
;
mahat
—
aṁśa — yuktaḥ — accompanied by the plenary portion of mahat-tattva
;
hi
—
certainly
;
ajaḥ
—
the unborn
;
api
—
although
;
jātaḥ
—
is born
;
bhagavān
—
the Personality of Godhead
;
yathā
—
as if
;
agniḥ
—
the fire .
Translation
The Personality of Godhead, the all-compassionate controller of both the spiritual and material creations, is unborn, but when there is friction between His peaceful devotees and persons who are in the material modes of nature, He takes birth just like fire, accompanied by the mahat-tattva.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Being compassionate in mind, when his devotees are afflicted by the demons, Svayam Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, though not having material birth, appears within this world along with all his Viṣṇu expansions, since he is the lord of all forms of God and devatās.
“But from your mouth we hear that Vaikuṇṭha Nārāyaṇa came and appeared in Vasudeva’s house, that the ancient Lord took a black and white hair, that Kṛṣṇa expands from Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, that he expands from Nara-nārāyaṇa or Vāmana, and we also hear that Kṛṣṇa, with human pastimes, is situated in Dvārakā and other places as the highest form. What is the real truth?”
Kṛṣṇa is the lord of the Nārāyaṇa forms (para) beyond prakṛti, is the lord of Brahmā and others (avara), who is Svayam Bhagavān, and is endowed with forms such as Mahā-viṣṇu creator of mahat-tattva (mahad) and aṁśas like Matsya, Kūrma, Nṛhari, Nara-nārāyaṇa, and Vāmana. When the devotees are afflicted by the demons, Kṛṣṇa, whose mind is full of compassion (anukampitātmā, appears in this world, though he is unborn, without material birth. According to the śruti the Lord is called mahat. Mahāntaṁ vibhumātmānam matvā dhīras na śocati: knowing the Lord as the producer of mahat-tattva, the wise person does not lament. (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.22) He is just like fire, which being eternally present as one of the five basic elements, appears when jewels or stones are rubbed. This means that he is eternally present in his abodes such as Mathurā. When his devotees in Mathurā like Vasudeva and Ugrasena are afflicted, by his kṛpā-śakti, which is like the friction that produces fire, the Lord becomes visible. Rising like the sun in the eastern direction (Devakī) on Sunrise Mountain (Mathurā) h,e extinguishes the evil persons similar to darkness and satisfies the lotuses (religious persons) and cakravāka birds (devotees in longing) who have been tormented by the darkness, and establishes the rules of dharma. Then he disappears on the Sunset Mountain (Prabhāsa). In this way the example of the sun is a suitable comparison with Kṛṣṇa’s appearance and disappearance. It clearly shows how the Lord is present in his abode and makes his appearance. He is not Nārāyaṇa coming from Vaikuṇṭha, or Kṣīrodakaśāyī coming from the Milk Ocean or Nara-nārāyaṇa or Vāmana coming from their abodes to make an appearance in this world. Though all these forms have their eternal abodes, when Kṛṣṇa appears he comes with all these aṁśas (mahad-aṁśa-yuktaḥ) since they merge within Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of them all (parāvareśaḥ). Thus all doubts are resolved. This is in accordance with the statements of the sages.
Purport
The devotees of the Lord are by nature peaceful because they have no material hankering. A liberated soul has no hankering, and therefore he has no lamentation. One who wants to possess also laments when he loses his possession. Devotees have no hankerings for material possessions and no hankerings for spiritual salvation. They are situated in the transcendental loving service of the Lord as a matter of duty, and they do not mind where they are or how they have to act.
Karmīs, jṣānīs
and
yogīs
all hanker to possess some material or spiritual assets.
Karmīs
want material possessions,
jṣānīs
and
yogīs
want spiritual possessions, but devotees do not want any material or spiritual assets. They want only to serve the Lord anywhere in the material or spiritual worlds that the Lord desires, and the Lord is always specifically compassionate towards such devotees.
The
karmīs, jṣānīs
and
yogīs
have their particular mentalities in the modes of nature, and therefore they are called
itara
or nondevotees. These
itaras,
including even the
yogīs,
sometimes harass the devotees of the Lord. Durvāsā Muni, a great
yogī,
harassed Mahārāja Ambarīṣa because the latter was a great devotee of the Lord. And the great
karmī
and
jṣānī
Hiraṇyakaśipu even harassed his own Vaiṣṇava son, Prahlāda Mahārāja. There are many instances of such harassment of the peaceful devotees of the Lord by the
itaras.
When such friction takes place, the Lord, out of His great compassion towards His pure devotees, appears in person, accompanied by His plenary portions controlling the
mahat-tattva.
The Lord is everywhere, in both the material and spiritual domains, and He appears for the sake of His devotees when there is friction between His devotee and the nondevotee. As electricity is generated by friction of matter anywhere and everywhere, the Lord, being all-pervading, appears because of the friction of devotees and nondevotees. When Lord Kṛṣṇa appears on a mission, all His plenary portions accompany Him. When He appeared as the son of Vasudeva, there were differences of opinion about His incarnation. Some said, “He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” Some said, “He is an incarnation of Nārāyaṇa,” and others said, “He is the incarnation of Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu.” But actually He is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead —
kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam
— and Nārāyaṇa, the
puruṣas
and all other incarnations accompany Him to function as different parts of His pastimes.
Mahad-aṁśa-yuktaḥ
indicates that He is accompanied by the
puruṣas,
who create the
mahat-tanva.
It is confirmed in the Vedic hymns,
mahāntaṁ vibhum ātmānam.
Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared, just like electricity, when there was friction between Kaṁsa and Vasudeva and Ugrasena. Vasudeva and Ugrasena were the Lord’s devotees, and Kaṁsa, a representative of the
karmīs
and
jṣānīs,
was a nondevotee. Kṛṣṇa, as He is, is compared to the sun. He first appeared from the ocean of the womb of Devakī, and gradually He satisfied the inhabitants of the places surrounding Mathurā, just as the sun enlivens the lotus flower in the morning. After gradually rising to the meridian of Dvārakā, the Lord set like the sun, placing everything in darkness, as described by Uddhava.