Notes} The Advent of Lord Krsna: Introduction 107

nary human being, although He is the controller of both the material and
spiritual energies. The Lord is the Supreme Person, Purusottama, but
because we are deluded by yogamdyd, He appears to be an ordinary per-
son. Ultimately, however, yogamdyd induces even a nondevotee to
understand the Lord as the Supreme Person, Purusottama. In Bhagavad-
gita we find two statements given by the Supreme Personality of
Godhead. For the devotees, the Lord says:

tesam satata-yuktanam
bhajatam priti-pirvakam

dadaémi buddhi-yogarn tam
yena mdm upayanti te

“To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give
the understanding by which they can come to Me.” (Bg. 10.10) Thus for
the willing devotee the Lord gives intelligence by which to understand
Him and return home, back to Godhead. For others, for nondevotees, the
Lord says, mrtyuh sarva-haras caham: “I am all-plundering, inevitable
death.” A devotee like Prahlada enjoys the activities of Lord Nrsirm-
hadeva, whereas nondevotees like Prahlada’s father, Hiranyakasipu,
meet death before Lord Nrsirnhadeva. The Lord therefore acts in two
ways, by sending some onto the path of repeated birth and death and
sending others back home, back to Godhead.

The word kala, meaning “‘black,”’ indicates the color of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, Krsna. Lord Krsna and Lord Ramacandra, who
both look blackish, give liberation and transcendental bliss to Their
devotees. Among persons possessing material bodies, sometimes someone
is able to subject death to his own will. For such a person, death is almost
impossible because no one wants to die. But although Bhismadeva
possessed this power, Bhisma, by the supreme will of the Lord, died very
easily in the Lord’s presence. There have also been many demons who
had no hope of salvation, yet Karnsa attained salvation by the supreme
will of the Lord. Not to speak of Karnsa, even Pitand attained salvation
and reached the level of the Lord’s mother. Pariksit Maharaja, therefore,
was very eager to hear about the Lord, who has inconceivable qualities by
which to give liberation to anyone. Pariksit Maharaja, at the point of his
death, was certainly interested in his liberation. When such a great and
