Text 36] Departure of Lord Krsna for Dvaraka 553
TRANSLATION

On His journey through these provinces He was welcomed, worshiped
and given various presentations. In the evening, in all places, the Lord
suspended His journey to perform evening rites. This was regularly ob-
served after sunset.

PURPORT

It is said here that the Lord observed the religious principles regularly
while He was on the journey. There are certain philosophical speculations
that even the Lord is under the obligations of fruitive action. But actually
this is not the case. He does not depend on the action of any good or bad
work. Since the Lord is absolute, everything done by Him is good for
everyone. But when He descends on earth, He acts for the protection of
the devotees and for the annihilation of the impious nondevotees. Al-
though He has no obligatory duty, stil! He does everything so that others
may follow. That is the way of factual teaching; one must act properly
Himself and teach the same to others, otherwise no one will accept such
blind teaching. He is Himself the awarder of fruitive results. He is self-
sufficient, and yet He acts according to the rulings of the revealed scrip-
ture in order to teach us the process. If He does not do so, the common
man may go wrong. But in the advanced stage, when one can understand
the transcendental nature of the Lord, one does not try to imitate Him.
This is not possible.

The Lord in the human society does what is the duty of everyone, but
sometimes He does something which is extraordinary and is not to be
imitated by the living being. His acts of evening prayer as stated herein
must be followed by the living being. but it is not possible to follow His
mountain-lifting or ‘dancing with the gopis. One cannot imitate the sun,
who can exkangl water even from a filthy place: the most powerful can do
something which is all-good, but our imitation of such acts will put us into
endless difficulty. Therefore, in all actions, the experienced guide, the
spiritual master, who is the manifested mercy of the Lord. should always
be consulted, and the path of progress will be assured.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the First Canto, Tenth Chapter,
of the Srimad- Bhagavatam, entitled “Departure of Lord Krsna for
BDvaraka.”
