bibhará¹£i rÅ«pÄṇy avabodha ÄtmÄ
ká¹£emÄya lokasya carÄcarasya
sattvopapannÄni sukhÄvahÄni
satÄm abhadrÄṇi muhuḥ khalÄnÄm
bibhará¹£i - You accept; rÅ«pÄṇi - varieties of forms, such as Matsya, KÅ«rma, VarÄha, RÄma and Ná¹›siá¹ha; avabodhaḥ ÄtmÄ - in spite of having different incarnations, You remain the Supreme, full of knowledge; ká¹£emÄya - for the benefit of everyone, and especially the devotees; lokasya - of all living entities; cara-acarasya - moving and nonmoving; sattva-upapannÄni - all such incarnations are transcendental (Å›uddha-sattva); sukha-avahÄni - full of transcendental bliss; satÄm - of the devotees; abhadrÄṇi - all inauspiciousness or annihilation; muhuḥ - again and again; khalÄnÄm - of the nondevotees.
O Lord, You are always in full knowledge, and to bring all good fortune to all living entities, You appear in different incarnations, all of them transcendental to the material creation. When You appear in these incarnations, You are pleasing to the pious and religious devotees, but for nondevotees You are the annihilator.
This verse explains why the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears as an incarnation again and again. The incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead all function differently, but their main purpose is paritrÄṇÄya sÄdhÅ«nÄá¹ vinÄÅ›Äya ca duá¹£ká¹›tÄm — to protect the devotees and annihilate the miscreants. Yet even though the duá¹£ká¹›tÄ«s, or miscreants, are annihilated, this is ultimately good for them.
