ye kopitÄḥ su-bahu pÄṇá¸u-sutÄḥ sapatnair
durdyÅ«ta-helana-kaca-grahaṇÄdibhis tÄn
ká¹›tvÄ nimittam itaretarataḥ sametÄn
hatvÄ ná¹›pÄn niraharat ká¹£iti-bhÄram Ä«Å›aḥ
ye - they who; kopitÄḥ - were angered; su-bahu - excessively, time and time again; pÄṇá¸u-sutÄḥ - the sons of PÄṇá¸u; sapatnaiḥ - by their enemies; duḥ-dyÅ«ta - by duplicitous gambling; helana - insults; kaca-grahaṇa - grabbing the hair (of DraupadÄ«); Ädibhiḥ - and other impetuses; tÄn - them (the PÄṇá¸avas); ká¹›tvÄ - making; nimittam - the immediate cause; itara-itarataḥ - confronting one another on opposite sides; sametÄn - all assembled; hatvÄ - killing; ná¹›pÄn - the kings; niraharat - took away once and for all; ká¹£iti - of the earth; bhÄram - the burden; Ä«Å›aḥ - the Supreme Lord.
Because the sons of PÄṇá¸u were enraged by the numerous offenses of their enemies, such as duplicitous gambling, verbal insults, the seizing of Draupadī’s hair, and many other cruel transgressions, the Supreme Lord engaged those PÄṇá¸avas as the immediate cause to execute His will. On the pretext of the Battle of Kuruká¹£etra, Lord Kṛṣṇa arranged for all the kings who were burdening the earth to assemble with their armies on opposite sides of the battlefield, and when the Lord killed them through the agency of war, the earth was relieved of its burden.
The PÄṇá¸avas were repeatedly harassed by their enemies, such as Duryodhana and DuḥśÄsana. As innocent young princes, the PÄṇá¸avas had no enemy, but Duryodhana was constantly plotting against his helpless cousins. The PÄṇá¸avas were sent to a house of lac, which was later burned to the ground. They were administered poison, and their chaste wife DraupadÄ« was publicly insulted when her hair was pulled and an attempt was made to strip her naked. Throughout these dangers, Lord ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa constantly protected the PÄṇá¸avas, who were fully surrendered to Him and who knew no shelter other than Him.
In this verse the word itaretarataḥ is significant. Previous to the Battle of Kuruká¹£etra, Kṛṣṇa had personally killed many demons, including PÅ«tanÄ, Keśī, AghÄsura and Kaá¹sa. Now, Kṛṣṇa wanted to complete His mission of removing the earth’s burden by killing the remaining impious persons. But as stated here, ká¹›tvÄ nimittam: the Lord did not personally kill, but empowered His devotees Arjuna and the other PÄṇá¸avas to remove the impious kings. Thus acting personally and through His immediate expansion BalarÄma, as well as by empowering His pure devotees such as the PÄṇá¸avas, Kṛṣṇa fully displayed the pastimes of the yugÄvatÄra by reestablishing religious principles and ridding the world of demons. Although the general purpose of the Kuruká¹£etra battle was to kill the demons, by Kṛṣṇa’s arrangement some great devotees such as BhÄ«á¹£ma also appeared to be inimical toward the Lord. But as described in the First Canto of ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (1.9.39) by the words hatÄ gatÄḥ svarÅ«pam, many great devotees played with the Lord as enemies and upon being killed by Kṛṣṇa returned immediately to His abode in the spiritual sky in their original spiritual bodies. Because God is absolute, by His killing He simultaneously removes the demons from the earth and encourages His pure devotees.
