Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 8 - Chapter 1 - Verse 22


Sanskrit:

न यस्य वध्यो न च रक्षणीयोनोपेक्षणीयादरणीयपक्ष: ।तथापि सर्गस्थितिसंयमार्थंधत्ते रज:सत्त्वतमांसि काले ॥ २२ ॥

ITRANS:

na yasya vadhyo na ca rakṣaṇīyonopekṣaṇīyādaraṇīya-pakṣaḥtathāpi sarga-sthiti-saṁyamārthaṁdhatte rajaḥ-sattva-tamāṁsi kāle

Translation:

For the Supreme Personality of Godhead there is no one to be killed, no one to be protected, no one to be neglected and no one to be worshiped. Nonetheless, for the sake of creation, maintenance and annihilation according to time, He accepts different forms as incarnations either in the mode of goodness, the mode of passion or the mode of ignorance.

Purport:

This verse explains that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is equal to everyone. This is confirmed by the Lord Himself in Bhagavad-gītā (9.29): “I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend, is in Me, and I am also a friend to him.” Although the Lord is impartial, He gives special attention to His devotees. Therefore the Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (4.8): “To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear millennium after millennium.” The Lord has nothing to do with anyone’s protection or destruction, but for the creation, maintenance and annihilation of this material world He apparently has to act either in goodness, in passion or in darkness. Actually, however, He is unaffected by these modes of material nature. He is the Supreme Lord of everyone. As a king sometimes punishes or rewards someone to maintain law and order, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although having nothing to do with the activities of this material world, sometimes appears as various incarnations according to the time, place and object.