Devanagari
अनुग्रहाय भक्तानां मानुषं देहमास्थित: ।
भजते तादृशी: क्रीडा या: श्रुत्वा तत्परो भवेत् ॥ ३६ ॥
Verse text
anugrahāya bhaktānāṁ
mānuṣaṁ deham āsthitaḥ
bhajate tādṛśīḥ krīḍa
yāḥ śrutvā tat-paro bhavet
Synonyms
anugrahāya
—
to show mercy
;
bhaktānām
—
to His devotees
;
mānuṣam
—
humanlike
;
deham
—
a body
;
āsthitaḥ
—
assuming
;
bhajate
—
He accepts
;
tādṛśīḥ
—
such
;
kriḍāḥ
—
pastimes
;
yāḥ
—
about which
;
śrutvā
—
hearing
;
tat
—
paraḥ — dedicated to Him
;
bhavet
—
one becomes .
Translation
When the Lord assumes a humanlike body to show mercy to His devotees, He engages in such pastimes as will attract those who hear about them to become dedicated to Him.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
When the Lord assumes a humanlike body to show mercy to His devotees, He engages in such pastimes as will attract those who hear about them to become dedicated to Him.
KB 10.33.36
Some ask that if Kṛṣṇa is self-sufficient, why did He at all manifest the pastimes with the gopīs, which are disturbing to the so-called moralists of the world? The answer is that such activities show special mercy to the fallen, conditioned souls. The gopīs are expansions of His internal energy, but because Kṛṣṇa wanted to exhibit the rāsa-līlā, they appeared as ordinary human beings. In the material world, pleasure is ultimately manifested in the sex attraction between man and woman. The man lives simply to be attracted by women, and the woman lives simply to be attracted by men. That is the basic principle of material life. As soon as these attractions are combined, people become more and more implicated in material existence. In order to show them special favor, Kṛṣṇa exhibited this rāsa-līlā dance. It is just to captivate the conditioned souls. Since they are very much attracted by sex, they can enjoy the same life with Kṛṣṇa and thus become liberated from the material condition. In the Second Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Mahārāja Parīkṣit also explains that the pastimes and activities of Lord Kṛṣṇa are medicine for the conditioned souls. If they simply hear about Kṛṣṇa, they become relieved of the material disease. They are addicted to material enjoyment and are accustomed to reading sex literature, but by hearing these transcendental pastimes of Kṛṣṇa with the gopīs, they will be relieved of material contamination.
How people should hear and from whom is also explained by Śukadeva Gosvāmī. The difficulty is that the whole world is full of Māyāvādīs, some of whom become professional reciters of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And those who hear from such persons without knowing the effect of Māyāvāda philosophy become confused. Discussion of the rāsa-līlā among people in general is discouraged because they are affected by the Māyāvāda philosophy, but if one who is advanced explains and people hear from him, certainly the hearers will be gradually elevated to the position of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and liberated from materially contaminated life.
Purport
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains in this connection that when Lord Kṛṣṇa descends to this world in His original two-handed form, out of kindness He manifests that form in a way His devotees conditioned in human society can perceive and understand. Thus here it is stated,
mānuṣaṁ deham āsthitaḥ:
“He assumes a humanlike body.” Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura glorifies the Lord’s conjugal pastimes, stating that these romantic affairs have an inconceivable spiritual potency to attract the polluted heart of conditioned souls. It is an undeniable fact that any pure- or simple-hearted person who hears narrations of the loving affairs of Kṛṣṇa will be attracted to the lotus feet of the Lord and gradually become His devotee.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
This verse answers the second question "What is the goal of doing forbidden activities?" He acted in this way to show mercy to his devotees. Hearing about these activities, the jivas taking shelter of human bodies become believers in these topics. Thus it should be understood that the sweet rasa lila, incomparable to any other lila, like a powerful medicine of mantras and jewels, has indisputably great power, and the chief qualification for this bhakti involving madhurya rasa, this medicine, is to have a human body.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
“If he is āpta-kāmaḥ, satisfied in all desires, why does he play? And moreover, materialistic people of this world criticize him.” Padma Purāṇa says mad-bhaktānāṁ vinodārtham karomi vividhā kriyāḥ: I perform various actions for the pleasure of my devotees. To give mercy to my devotees, I take shelter of a human body. Though I am the shelter of everything as Brahman, I take shelter of myself. This form is the ultimate shelter of parabrahman. It is said daśame daśamam lakṣyam āśritāśraya-vigraham: in the Tenth Canto the tenth subject, the shelter of all other forms (āśraya), is described. (Śrīdhara Svāmī commentary 10.1.1) Bhagavad Upaniṣad says brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham: I am the basis of Brahman. (BG 14.27) Sometimes āsthitaḥ is seen instead of āśritaḥ. This is a respectful way of saying the same thing. One should not say that he makes a body by his will at this time only and accepts it, since the cowherds also experienced this form of the supreme Brahman in the spiritual world. He performs pastimes now to show mercy to the devotees. Though he is āpta-kāma, it is proper that he is also merciful to devotees since that is the nature of his śuddha-sattva form. That is seen in verses like the following:
yad bhāva bhāvita dhiyo manujās tathaiva
samprāpya rūpa mahimāsana yāna bhūṣāḥ |
sūktair yam eva nigama prathitaiḥ stuvanti
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi ||
I worship the Supreme Lord Govinda, whom men praise with Vedic verses, after having fixing their minds on him with devotion and consequently having attained glorious forms, thrones, vehicles and ornaments by his mercy. Brahma-saṁhitā 5.36
Jaḍa-bharata also bestows such mercy to Rahūgaṇa and the Lord bestows such mercy to Parīkṣit and Śukadeva. Kṛṣṇa takes shelter of his form to give mercy to the devotees (bhaktānām)--the gopīs, the other residents of Vraja, and other Vaiṣṇavas of the past, present and future as well. He shows his form to the gopīs because of their pūrva-rāga and other bhāvas, to the residents of Vraja by being born there, and to the other Vaiṣṇavas through hearing about him and seeing his deity form. With those devotees, he performs pastimes which attract the hearts of all people (tādṛśīḥ krīḍāḥ). Others who are not devotees, hearing about the pastimes, even if they are ordinary pastimes, became attracted. What to speak of hearing pastimes like the rāsa-līlā. That is mentioned in the last verse of this chapter: anyone who faithfully hears or describes the Lord’s playful affairs with the young gopīs of Vṛndāvana will attain the Lord’s pure devotional service.
Or, for giving mercy, the Lord performs pastimes and, hearing those pastimes, all jīvas who have taken shelter of human body (mānuṣaṁ deham āsthitaḥ) will become devoted to Kṛṣṇa (tat-paro bhavet) since the Lord makes his appearance on this planet and since worship of Kṛṣṇa is the principle means here. Men will attain perfection by hearing with joy the topics of these pastimes of Kṛṣṇa Instead of bhaktānām sometimes bhūtānām is seen. Then the meaning is “The Lord performs pastimes for giving mercy to all people--materialists, those desiring liberation and liberated souls,” though it is said that devotees are the cause of the Lord appearing. Thus the cause of his performing these pastimes is his great mercy to living entities in general. However it should be understood that all mercy is in relation to worshipping him. Śrīdhara Svāmī comments that the Lord performs pastimes to make those who are attracted to śṛṅgāra-rasa and even the materialists become absorbed in him. It should be explained however by taking another meaning that pastimes were actually displayed for the gopīs (who were absorbed in śṛṅgāra-rasa), because they had reached the highest level of prema and Śukadeva was absorbed in describing them.
“Let him play like this secretly, but why does he reveal these pastimes to people of this world?” To show mercy to the devotees in this world, he takes shelter of his portion, the universal form (manuṣam deham), the earth planet. This means “To show mercy to the devotees in this world, he appears in this world.” Śruti says yasya pṛthivī śarīram: the earth is his body. (Subala Upaniṣad) Thus manuṣam deham (or śarīram) means the earth planet.
Since tat-paraḥ bhavet is in the singular, the subject cannot be devotees or mankind in general. Adding extra words is awkward. The natural subject according to context should be Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. Thus the meaning is “Kṛṣṇa performs such pastimes. On hearing about them he becomes absorbed in them. Whenever he hears those pastimes he becomes more attached to them.”
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
This is further explained. Or, being the witness (adhyakṣaḥ) manifesting a form for pastimes, he gave enjoyment to the people of vraja (bhajate) or to the gopīs. There is thus no fault in his pastimes since he accomplishes his pastimes by moving among them internally and externally as the witness. What more need be said?
He does this to give mercy to his devotees. Padma Purāṇa says mad-bhaktānāṁ vinodārtham karomi vividhā kriyāḥ: I perform various actions for the pleasure of my devotees. To give mercy to my devotees, I take shelter of a human body. He manifests himself by taking shetler of a human form.
Or the Lrd manifests his human form. He engages in pastimes to give mercy to his devotees—to the gopīs, people of Vraja and all other devotees in the future and past--by showing pastimes.
Or to give mercy to the gopīs, he accomplished (bhajate) pastimes (krīdā) with affection. By giving mercy to the chief devotees, all others attain mercy. Bhajate can also mean he revealed pastimes or he followed a pattern of pastimes. This indicates that the pastimes are eternal. By that fact, all faults are automatically discarded. These pastimes were indescrible and attractive to all hearts.
All those who hear the pastimes similar (tādṛśī) to the rāsa dance become dedicated to Bhagavān, his patimes or the devotees (tat). What to speak, of those who hear about the rāsa dance.
Or when he takes shelter of a human body, all jīvas, hearing the pastimes, become dedicated to him. Humans become happy on hearing about him, since he descends among the humans and as a human becomes the chief object of worship suitable for bhakti.
Or the word api can be added to the statement. When he appears even as a human, what to speak of taking forms among sages and devatās, he engages in such pastimes. This shows his mercy to the devotees.
Instead of bhāktānām sometimes bhūtānām. He performs pastimes to give mercy to all people—materialists, those pursing liberation and the devotees. This indicates his great mercy. How can he violate the laws of dharma (SB 10.33.27, 29)? This verse refutes that doubt. Verse 28 shows that since he is complete, these acts cannot touch him. That is also refuted by the second meanting of the word anugrahāya (mercy to all beings).