Verse Text
yathā śrī-daśame–
nyāyyo hi daṇḍaḥ kṛta-kilbiṣe ’smiṁs
tavāvatāraḥ khala-nigrahāya |
ripoḥ sutānām api tulya-dṛṣṭer
dhatse damaṁ phalam evānuśaṁsan ||121||
Translation
An example from the Tenth Canto: The punishment that this offender has been subjected to is certainly just. After all, You have incarnated within this world to curb envious and cruel persons. You are so impartial that You look equally upon Your enemies and Your own sons, for when You impose a punishment on a living being You know it to be for his ultimate benefit. SB 10.16.33
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
The Lord does not see with prejudiced vision in the manner of “This is My enemy, and this is My son.” The Lord sees with equal vision, because He sees differences only in terms of correct and incorrect. He gives punishment to the enemy, whose nature is incorrect, because he is thinking of the final result. This means that in the end, the Lord gives him the happiness of liberation. In this way, the Lord sees the enemy and His son as equal. It is also seen that fathers give punishment to erring sons. The enemies are people such as Jarāsandha and His sons are persons such as Narakāsura. How he became the son of the Lord during the Varāha pastimes is told in the Kālikā Purāṇa. [Note: This is minor Purāṇa named after Durgā.]
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
An example of Kṛṣṇa’s equilibrium is given in the Tenth Canto, Sixteenth Chapter, verse 33, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in connection with His chastising Kāliya, the hundred-headed serpent. While Kāliya was being severely punished, all of his wives appeared before the Lord and prayed as follows: “Dear Lord, You have descended to punish all kinds of demoniac living creatures. Our husband, this Kāliya, is a greatly sinful creature, and so Your punishment for him is quite appropriate. We know that Your punishment for Your enemies and Your dealings with Your sons are both the same. We know that it is in thinking of the future welfare of this condemned creature that You have chastised him.”