Bewildering Pastimes
81
dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge
“In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.”
When God incarnates, He has two missions—to vanquish the demons and deliver the  sādhus , the faithful devotees. The word  sādhūnām , which means “saintly persons,” refers to devotees. It has nothing to do with worldly honesty or dishonesty, morality or immorality; it has nothing to do with material activities. Sometimes we may think that the word  sādhu  refers to a person who is materially good or moral, but actually the word  sādhu  refers to one who is on the transcendental platform. A  sādhu , therefore, is a devotee, because one who engages in devotional service is transcendental to material qualities ( sa guṇān samatītyaitān ).
Now, the Lord comes to deliver the devotees ( paritrāṇāya sādhūnām ), but it is clearly stated in  Bhagavad-gītā  (14.26) that a devotee transcends the material qualities ( sa guṇān samatītyaitān ). A devotee is in a transcendental position because he is no longer under the control of the three material modes of nature—goodness, passion, and ignorance. But if a  sādhu  is already delivered, being on the transcendental platform, then where is the necessity of delivering him? This question may arise. The Lord comes to deliver the devotee, but the devotee is already delivered. Therefore the word  viḍambanam , meaning “bewildering,” is used in this verse because this appears contradictory.
The answer to this contradiction is that a  sādhu , a devotee, does not require deliverance, but because he is very much anxious to see the Supreme Lord face to face, Kṛṣṇa comes not to deliver him from the clutches of matter, from which he has already been delivered, but to satisfy his inner desire. Just as a devotee wants to satisfy the Lord in all respects, the Lord even more wants to satisfy the devotee. Such are the exchanges of loving affairs. Even in our ordinary dealings, if we love someone we want to satisfy him or her, and he or she also wants to reciprocate. So if the reciprocation of loving affairs exists in this material world, in what an elevated way must it exist in the spiritual world. There is a verse in which the Lord says, “The  sādhu  is My heart, and I am also the  sādhu’s  heart.” The  sādhu  is always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is always thinking of the  sādhu . His devotee.
The appearance and disappearance of the Lord within this material world are called  cikīrṣitam , pastimes. It is Kṛṣṇa’s pastime that He comes. Of course, when the Lord comes He has some work to perform—to