यस्यावतारगुणकर्मविडम्बनानि
नामानि येऽसुविगमे विवशा गृणन्ति ।
तेऽनैकजन्मशमलं सहसैव हित्वा
संयान्त्यपावृतामृतं तमजं प्रपद्ये ॥१५॥

yasyÄvatÄra-guṇa-karma-viá¸ambanÄni
nÄmÄni ye 'su-vigame vivaÅ›Ä gṛṇanti
te 'naika-janma-Å›amalaá¹ sahasaiva hitvÄ
saá¹yÄnty apÄvá¹›tÄmá¹›taá¹ tam ajaá¹ prapadye

 yasya - whose; avatÄra - incarnations; guṇa - transcendental qualities; karma - activities; viá¸ambanÄni - all mysterious; nÄmÄni - transcendental names; ye - those; asu-vigame - while quitting this life; vivaÅ›Äḥ - automatically; gṛṇanti - invoke; te - they; anaika - many; janma - births; Å›amalam - accumulated sins; sahasÄ - immediately; eva - certainly; hitvÄ - giving up; saá¹yÄnti - obtain; apÄvá¹›ta - open; amá¹›tam - immortality; tam - Him; ajam - the unborn; prapadye - I take shelter.


Text

Let me take shelter of the lotus feet of Him whose incarnations, qualities and activities are mysterious imitations of worldly affairs. One who invokes His transcendental names, even unconsciously, at the time he quits this life, is certainly washed immediately of the sins of many, many births and attains Him without fail.

Purport

The activities of the incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are a kind of imitation of the activities going on in the material world. He is just like an actor on a stage. An actor imitates the activities of a king on stage, although actually he is not the king. Similarly, when the Lord incarnates, He imitates parts with which He has nothing to do. In Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (4.14), it is said that the Lord has nothing to do with the activities in which He is supposedly engaged: na mÄá¹ karmÄṇi limpanti na me karma-phale spá¹›hÄ. The Lord is omnipotent; simply by His will He can perform anything and everything. When the Lord appeared as Lord Kṛṣṇa, He played the part of the son of YaÅ›odÄ and Nanda, and He lifted the Govardhana Hill, although lifting a hill is not His concern. He can lift millions of Govardhana Hills by His simple desire; He does not need to lift it with His hand. But He imitates the ordinary living entity by this lifting, and at the same time He exhibits His supernatural power. Thus His name is chanted as the lifter of Govardhana Hill, or ÅšrÄ« Govardhana-dhÄrÄ«. Therefore, His acts in His incarnations and His partiality to the devotees are all imitations only, just like the stage makeup of an expert dramatical player. His acts in that capacity, however, are all omnipotent, and the remembrance of such activities of the incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is as powerful as the Lord Himself. AjÄmila remembered the holy name of the Lord, NÄrÄyaṇa, by merely calling the name of his son NÄrÄyaṇa, and that gave him a complete opportunity to achieve the highest perfection of life.