bhavÄn paritrÄtum ihÄvatÄŤrášo
dharmaáš janÄnÄáš samayÄnurĹŤpam
venÄpacÄrÄd avaluptam adya
tad-dehato viᚣášu-kalÄsi vainya
bhavÄn - Your Majesty; paritrÄtum - just to deliver; iha - in this world; avatÄŤrášaḼ - incarnated; dharmam - religious system; janÄnÄm - of the people in general; samaya-anurĹŤpam - according to the time and circumstances; vena-apacÄrÄt - by the misdeeds of King Vena; avaluptam - almost vanished; adya - at the present moment; tat - his; dehataḼ - from the body; viᚣášu - of Lord Viᚣášu; kalÄ - part of a plenary portion; asi - you are; vainya - O son of King Vena.
The way in which Lord Viᚣášu kills the demons and protects the faithful is mentioned in Bhagavad-gÄŤtÄ (4.8):
paritrÄášÄya sÄdhĹŤnÄáš
vinÄĹÄya ca duᚣkáštÄm
dharma-saášsthÄpanÄrthÄya
sambhavÄmi yuge yuge
âIn order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium.â
In two hands Lord Viᚣášu 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 Viᚣášu appears in His person as Lord KášášŁáša or Lord RÄma. All of these appearances are mentioned in the ĹÄstras. Sometimes He appears as a ĹaktyÄveĹa-avatÄra like Lord Buddha. As explained before, these ĹaktyÄveĹa-avatÄras are incarnations of Viᚣášuâs power invested in a living entity. Living entities are also part and parcel of Lord Viᚣášu, but they are not as powerful; therefore when a living entity descends as an incarnation of Viᚣášu, he is especially empowered by the Lord.
When King Pášthu is described as an incarnation of Lord Viᚣášu, it should be understood that he is a ĹaktyÄveĹa-avatÄra, part and parcel of Lord Viᚣášu, and is specifically empowered by Him. Any living being acting as the incarnation of Lord Viᚣášu is thus empowered by Lord Viᚣášu to preach the bhakti cult. Such a person can act like Lord Viᚣášu and defeat demons by arguments and preach the bhakti cult exactly according to the principles of ĹÄstra. As indicated in Bhagavad-gÄŤtÄ, whenever we find someone extraordinary preaching the bhakti cult, we should know that he is especially empowered by Lord Viᚣášu, or Lord KášášŁáša. As confirmed in Caitanya-caritÄmášta (Antya 7.11), kášášŁáša-Ĺakti 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 Viᚣášu and is punishable. Even though such offenders may dress as Vaiᚣášavas with false tilaka and mÄlÄ, they are never forgiven by the Lord if they offend a pure Vaiᚣášava. There are many instances of this in the ĹÄstras.