bhÅ«mer bharÄvataraṇÄya yaduá¹£v ajanmÄ
jÄtaḥ kariá¹£yati surair api duá¹£karÄṇi
vÄdair vimohayati yajña-ká¹›to 'tad-arhÄn
śūdrÄn kalau ká¹£iti-bhujo nyahaniá¹£yad ante
bhÅ«meḥ - of the earth; bhara - the burden; avataraṇÄya - to diminish; yaduá¹£u - in the Yadu dynasty; ajanmÄ - the unborn Lord; jÄtaḥ - taking birth; kariá¹£yati - He will perform; suraiḥ - by the demigods; api - even; duá¹£karÄṇi - difficult deeds; vÄdaiḥ - by speculative arguments; vimohayati - He will bewilder; yajña-ká¹›taḥ - the performers of Vedic sacrifices; atat-arhÄn - who are unfit to be so engaged; śūdrÄn - the low-class men; kalau - in the degraded age of Kali; ká¹£iti-bhujaḥ - rulers; nyahaniá¹£yat - He will kill; ante - at the end.
To diminish the burden of the earth, the unborn Lord will take birth in the Yadu dynasty and perform feats impossible even for the demigods. Propounding speculative philosophy, the Lord, as Buddha, will bewilder the unworthy performers of Vedic sacrifices. And as Kalki the Lord will kill all the low-class men posing as rulers at the end of the Age of Kali.
It is understood that in this verse the description of the Lord’s appearance in the Yadu dynasty refers to the appearance of both Kṛṣṇa and BalarÄma, who together removed the demoniac rulers who were burdening the earth. ÅšrÄ«la JÄ«va GosvÄmÄ« has pointed out that the description of the incarnations to deal with śūdrÄn, or low-class men, refers to both Buddha and Kalki. Those who misuse Vedic sacrifice to engage in gross sense gratification, such as the sinful killing of animals, are certainly in the category of śūdra, as are the so-called political leaders of Kali-yuga who perform many atrocities in the name of state management.
