278 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 2, Ch. 6

bahavah—arms: loka-palanam—of the governing deities of planets,
the demigods; prayasah—almost always; ksema-karmanam—of those who
are leaders and protectors of the general mass.

TRANSLATION

The Lord’s arms are the productive fields for the great demigods and
other leaders of the living entities who protect the general mass.

PURPORT

This important verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam is corroborated and nicely

explained in the Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 10.41-42) as follows:

yad yad vibhiitimat sattvam srimad iirjitam eva va
tat tad evavagaccha tvam mama tejo ‘msa-sambhavam
athava bahunaitena kim jiidtena tavarjuna
vistabhyaham idam krtsnam ekarisena sthito jagat

There are many powerful kings, leaders, learned scholars, scientists,
artists, engineers, inventors, excavators, archeologists, industrialists, poli-
ticians, economists, business magnates, and many more powerful deities
or demigods like Brahma, Siva, Indra, Candra, Siirya, Varuna, Marut, etc.,
who are all protecting the interest of the universal affairs of maintenance,
in different positions, and all of them are different powerful parts and
parcels of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord Sri Krsna is the father
of all living entities. They are placed in different high and low positions
according to their desires or aspirations. Some of them, as particularly
mentioned above, are specifically endowed with powers by the will of
the Lord. A sane person must know for certain that a living being,
however powerful he may be, is neither absolute nor independent. All
living beings must accept the origin of their specific power as mentioned
in this verse. And if they act accordingly, then simply by discharging their
respective occupational duties, they can achieve the highest perfection of
life, namely eternal life, complete knowledge and inexhaustible blessings.
As long as the powerful men of the world do not accept the origin of their
respective powers, namely the Personality of Godhead, the actions of maya
or illusion will continue to act. The actions of maya and illusion are such
that a powerful person, misled by the illusory material energy, wrongly
