Canto & Chapters
Creation (19 Chapters)
Chapter 123v
Questions by the Sages
Chapter 233v
Divinity and Divine Service
Chapter 344v
Kṛṣṇa Is the Source of All Incarnations
Chapter 431v
The Appearance of Śrī Nārada
Chapter 540v
Nārada’s Instructions on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam for Vyāsadeva
Chapter 638v
Conversation Between Nārada and Vyāsadeva
Chapter 756v
The Son of Droṇa Punished
Chapter 852v
Prayers by Queen Kuntī and Parīkṣit Saved
Chapter 948v
The Passing Away of Bhīṣmadeva in the Presence of Lord Kṛṣṇa
Chapter 1033v
Departure of Lord Kṛṣṇa for Dvārakā
Chapter 1137v
Lord Kṛṣṇa’s Entrance into Dvārakā
Chapter 1236v
Birth of Emperor Parīkṣit
Chapter 1359v
Dhṛtarāṣṭra Quits Home
Chapter 1441v
The Disappearance of Lord Kṛṣṇa
Chapter 1548v
The Pāṇḍavas Retire Timely
Chapter 1629v
How Parīkṣit Received the Age of Kali
Chapter 1743v
Punishment and Reward of Kali
Chapter 1849v
Mahārāja Parīkṣit Cursed by a Brāhmaṇa Boy
Chapter 1939v
The Appearance of Śukadeva Gosvāmī
Canto 1, Chapter 2
Divinity and Divine Service
Verse 34 (SB 1.2.34)
SB 1.2.34 • मूल श्लोक
भावयत्येष सत्त्वेन लोकान् वै लोकभावन: । लीलावतारानुरतो देवतिर्यङ्नरादिषु ॥ ३४ ॥
Transliteration
bhāvayaty eṣa sattvena lokān vai loka-bhāvanaḥ līlāvatārānurato deva-tiryaṅ-narādiṣu
Synonyms (Word-for-Word)
bhāvayati — maintains; eṣaḥ — all these; sattvena — in the mode of goodness; lokān — all over the universe; vai — generally; loka-bhāvanaḥ — the master of all the universes; līlā — pastimes; avatāra — incarnation; anurataḥ — assuming the role; deva — the demigods; tiryak — lower animals; nara-ādiṣu — in the midst of human beings.
Translation
“Thus the Lord of the universes maintains all planets inhabited by demigods, men and lower animals. Assuming the roles of incarnations, He performs pastimes to reclaim those in the mode of pure goodness.”
Bhaktivedanta Purport
By Śrīla PrabhupādaThere are innumerable material universes, and in each and every universe there are innumerable planets inhabited by different grades of living entities in different modes of nature. The Lord (Viṣṇu) incarnates Himself in each and every one of them and in each and every type of living society. He manifests His transcendental pastimes amongst them just to create the desire to go back to Godhead. The Lord does not change His original transcendental position, but He appears to be differently manifested according to the particular time, circumstances and society.
Sometimes He incarnates Himself or empowers a suitable living being to act for Him, but in either case the purpose is the same: the Lord wants the suffering living beings to go back home, back to Godhead. The happiness which the living beings are hankering for is not to be found within any corner of the innumerable universes and material planets. The eternal happiness which the living being wants is obtainable in the kingdom of God, but the forgetful living beings under the influence of the material modes have no information of the kingdom of God. The Lord, therefore, comes to propagate the message of the kingdom of God, either personally as an incarnation or through His bona fide representative as the good son of God. Such incarnations or sons of God are not making propaganda for going back to Godhead only within the human society. Their work is also going on in all types of societies, amongst demigods and those other than human beings.
Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the First Canto, Second Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled “Divinity and Divine Service.”