SB 6.9.35 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

अथ तत्र भवान् किं देवदत्तवदिह गुणविसर्गपतित: पारतन्‍त्र्येण स्वकृतकुशलाकुशलं फलमुपाददात्याहोस्विदात्माराम उपशमशील: समञ्जसदर्शन उदास्त इति ह वाव न विदाम: ॥ ३५ ॥

Verse text

atha tatra bhavān kiṁ devadattavad iha guṇa-visarga-patitaḥ pāratantryeṇa sva-kṛta-kuśalākuśalaṁ phalam upādadāty āhosvid ātmārāma upaśama-śīlaḥ samaṣjasa-darśana udāsta iti ha vāva na vidāmaḥ.

Synonyms

atha — therefore ; tatra — in that ; bhavān — Your Lordship ; kim — whether ; deva — datta — vat — like an ordinary human being, forced by the fruits of his activities ; iha — in this material world ; guṇa — visarga — patitaḥ — fallen in a material body impelled by the modes of material nature ; pāratantryeṇa — by dependence on the conditions of time, space, activity and nature ; sva — kṛta — executed by oneself ; kuśala — auspicious ; akuśalam — inauspicious ; phalam — results of action ; upādadāti — accepts ; āhosvit — or ; ātmārāmaḥ — completely self-satisfied ; upaśama — śīlaḥ — self-controlled in nature ; samaṣjasa — darśanaḥ — not deprived of full spiritual potencies ; udāste — remains neutral as the witness ; iti — thus ; ha vāva — certainly ; na vidāmaḥ — we do not understand .

Translation

These are our inquiries. The ordinary conditioned soul is subject to the material laws, and he thus receives the fruits of his actions. Does Your Lordship, like an ordinary human being, exist within this material world in a body produced by the material modes? Do You enjoy or suffer the good or bad results of actions under the influence of time, past work and so forth? Or, on the contrary, are You present here only as a neutral witness who is self-sufficient, free from all material desires, and always full of spiritual potency? We certainly cannot understand Your actual position.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

We do not know whether you accept results of pious or sinful actions like an ordinary Devadatta fallen in the material ocean, or whether you, ātmārāma, tranquil, full in your spiritual powers, remain a neutral witness, not accepting happiness and distress at all. Since you seem to be obliged to protect the righteous and destroy the wicked, it is hard to understand your protection and destruction. Just as the jīva in this world building a house, and entering household life filled with friends, enemies and neutrals, enjoys happiness and distress as a result of his pious or sinful reactions, do you (bhavān, out of respect), falling into various incidents (visarga) of mutual destruction between devatās and asuras produced by the guṇas, accept happiness and distress resulting from your pious and sinful acts dependent on karma, since you obtain happiness of wealth and power from destroying the wicked and protecting the righteous in various avatāras like Upendra and Kṛṣṇa, and obtain sorrow through fatigue of fighting? Or do you, possessing your undeviating cit-śakti (samaṣjasa-darśanaḥ), remain as the neutral witness, not accepting happiness and distress? We do not know the truth.

Purport

In Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa says that He descends to this material world for two purposes, namely paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām — to relieve the devotees and kill demons or nondevotees. These two kinds of action are the same for the Absolute Truth. When the Lord comes to punish the demons, He bestows His favor upon them, and similarly when He delivers His devotees and gives them relief, He also bestows His favor. Thus the Lord bestows His favor equally upon the conditioned souls. When a conditioned soul gives relief to others he acts piously, and when he gives trouble to others he acts impiously, but the Lord is neither pious nor impious; He is always full in His spiritual potency, by which He shows equal mercy to the punishable and the protectable. The Lord is apāpa-viddham; He is never contaminated by the reactions of so-called sinful activities. When Kṛṣṇa was present on this earth, He killed many inimical nondevotees, but they all received sārūpya; in other words, they returned to their original spiritual bodies. One who does not know the Lord’s position says that God is unkind to him but merciful to others. Actually the Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (9.29) , samo ’haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu na me dveṣyo ’sti na priyaḥ: “I am equal to everyone. No one is My enemy, and no one is My friend.” But He also says, ye bhajanti tu māṁ bhaktyā mayi te teṣu cāpy aham: “If one becomes My devotee and fully surrenders unto Me, I give him special attention.”