Text 42]
Bhāgavatam is the Answer
597
sa evedaṁ jagad-dhātā bhagavān dharma-rūpa-dhṛk puṣṇāti sthāpayan viśvaṁ tiryaṅ-nara-surādibhiḥ
saḥ—He; eva—certainly; idam—this; jagat-dhātā—the maintainer of the entire universe; bhagavān—the Personality of Godhead; dharma-rūpa-dhṛk—assuming the form of religious principles; puṣṇāti—maintains; sthāpayan—after establishing; viśvaṁ—the universes; tiryak—living entities lower than the human beings; nara—the human beings; sura-ādibhiḥ—by the demigodly incarnations.
TRANSLATION
He, the Personality of Godhead, as maintainer of all in the universe, appears in different incarnations after establishing the creation, and thus He reclaims all kinds of conditioned souls amongst the humans, nonhumans and the demigods.
PURPORT
The Supreme Personality of Godhead Viṣṇu incarnates Himself in different societies of living entities to reclaim them from the clutches of illusion, and such activities of the Lord are not limited only to the human society. He incarnates Himself even as a fish, hog, tree and many other forms, but less intelligent persons who have no knowledge of Him deride Him even if He is in the human society as a human being. The Lord therefore says in the  Bhagavad-gītā :
avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam paraṁ bhāvam ajānante mama bhūta-maheśvaram.  (Bg. 9.11)
As we have already discussed in the previous verses, it is concluded that the Lord is never a product of the material creation. His transcendental position is always unchanged. He is the eternal form of knowledge and bliss, and He executes His almighty will by His different energies. As such He is never the subject of reaction for all His acts. He is transcendental to all such conceptions of action and reactions. Even if He is visible in the material world, the exhibition is only of His internal energy, for He is above the good and bad conceptions of this material world. In the material world the fish or the hog may be considered lower than the man, but