THE KIND OF BUDDHAAVATAR?

TEXT 37
bhavän pariträtum ihävatérëo
dharmaà janänäà samayänurüpam
venäpacäräd avaluptam adya
copyright ©1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved – www.krishna.com
1032
tad-dehato viñëu-kaläsi vainya
SYNONYMS
bhavän—Your Majesty; pariträtum—just to deliver; iha—in this world;
avatérëaù—incarnated; dharmam—religious system; janänäm—of the people
in general; samaya-anurüpam—according to the time and circumstances;
vena-apacärät—by the misdeeds of King Vena; avaluptam—almost vanished;
adya—at the present moment; tat—his; dehataù—from the body; viñëu—of
Lord Viñëu; kalä—part of a plenary portion; asi—you are; vainya—O son of
King Vena.
TRANSLATION
O King Påthu, son of Vena, you are the part-and-parcel expansion of Lord
Viñëu. Due to the mischievous activities of King Vena, religious principles were
almost lost. At that opportune moment you descended as the incarnation of
Lord Viñëu. Indeed, for the protection of religious principles you have appeared
from the body of King Vena.
PURPORT
The way in which Lord Viñëu kills the demons and protects the faithful is
mentioned in Bhagavad-gétä (4.8):
pariträëäya sädhünäà
vinäçäya ca duñkåtäm
dharma-saàsthäpanärthäya
sambhavämi yuge yuge
"In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to
reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after
millennium."
copyright ©1998 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, all rights reserved – www.krishna.com
1033
In two hands Lord Viñëu always carries a club and a cakra to kill demons,
and in His other two hands He holds a conchshell and a lotus to give
protection to His devotees. When His incarnation is present on this planet or
in this universe, the Lord kills the demons and protects His devotees
simultaneously. Sometimes Lord Viñëu appears in His person as Lord Kåñëa or
Lord Räma. All of these appearances are mentioned in the çästras. Sometimes
He appears as a çaktyäveça-avatära like Lord Buddha. As explained before,
these çaktyäveça-avatäras are incarnations of Viñëu's power invested in a living
entity. Living entities are also part and parcel of Lord Viñëu, but they are not
as powerful; therefore when a living entity descends as an incarnation of
Viñëu, he is especially empowered by the Lord.
When King Påthu is described as an incarnation of Lord Viñëu, it should be
understood that he is a çaktyäveça-avatära, part and parcel of Lord Viñëu, and
is specifically empowered by Him. Any living being acting as the incarnation
of Lord Viñëu is thus empowered by Lord Viñëu to preach the bhakti cult. Such
a person can act like Lord Viñëu and defeat demons by arguments and preach
the bhakti cult exactly according to the principles of çästra. As indicated in
Bhagavad-gétä, whenever we find someone extraordinary preaching the bhakti
cult, we should know that he is especially empowered by Lord Viñëu, or Lord
Kåñëa. As confirmed in Caitanya-caritämåta (Antya 7.11), kåñëa-çakti vinä nahe
tära pravartana: one cannot explain the glories of the holy name of the Lord
without being specifically empowered by Him. If one criticizes or finds fault
with such an empowered personality, one is to be considered an offender
against Lord Viñëu and is punishable. Even though such offenders may dress as
Vaiñëavas with false tilaka and mälä, they are never forgiven by the Lord if
they offend a pure Vaiñëava. There are many instances of this in the çästras.