sureṣv ṛṣiṣv īśa tathaiva nṛṣv api
tiryakṣu yādaḥsv api te 'janasya
janmāsatāḿ durmada-nigrahāya
prabho vidhātaḥ sad-anugrahāya ca
sureshu -- among the demigods; rishishu -- among the great sages; isa -- O Lord; tatha -- as well as; eva -- indeed; nrishu -- among the human beings; api -- and; tiryakshu -- among animals; yadahsu -- among aquatics; api -- also; te -- of You; ajanasya -- who never takes material birth; janma -- the birth; asatam -- of the nondevotees; durmada -- the false pride; nigrahaya -- for the purpose of subduing; prabho -- O master; vidhatah -- O creator; sat -- to the faithful devotees; anugrahaya -- for the purpose of showing mercy; ca -- and.
O Lord, O supreme creator and master, You have no material birth, yet to defeat the false pride of the faithless demons and show mercy to Your saintly devotees, You take birth among the demigods, sages, human beings, animals and even the aquatics.
Among the demigods Lord Krishna appears in such forms as Vamanadeva, among the sages as Parasurama, among human beings as Lord Krishna Himself and as Lord Ramacandra, and among animals as the boar incarnation. Lord Krishna appears among the aquatics as Matsya, the gigantic fish. Indeed, the plenary expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are innumerable, as the Lord relentlessly comes down within the universes to smash the false pride of the atheists and show mercy to the saintly devotees.
In another sense, the Lord never appears, since He exists eternally. His appearance is like that of the sun, which is always present in the sky but which periodically appears to our vision.
