760 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 4, Ch. 19
paritrdndya sadhiinan
vinasdya ca duskrlam
dharma-samsthdpanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge
“In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to
reestablish the principles of religion, | advent Myself millennium after
millennium.” (Bg. 4.8)

In two hands Lord Visnu always carries a club and a cakra to kill
demons, and in His other two hands He holds a conchshell and a lotus to
give protection to His devotees. When His incarnation is present on this
planet or in this universe, the Lord kills the demons and protects His devo-
tees simultaneously. Sometimes Lord Visnu appears in His person as Lord
Krsna or Lord Rama. All of these appearances are mentioned in the sdstras.
Sometimes He appears as a Saktydvesa-avatara like Lord Buddha. As ex-
plained before, these saktydvesa-avataras are incarnations of Visnu’s power
invested in a living entity. Living entities are also part and parcel of Lord
Visnu, but they are not as powerful; therefore when a living entity descends
as an incarnation of Visnu, he is especially empowered by the Lord.

When King Prthu is described as an incarnation of Lord Visnu, it should
be understood that he is a Sakly@vesa-avatara, part and parcel of Lord
Visnu, and is specifically empowered by Him. Any living being acting as the
incarnation of Lord Visnu is thus empowered by Lord Visnu to preach the
bhakti cult. Such a person can act like Lord Visnu and defeat demons by
arguments and preach the bhakti cult exactly according to the principles
of sdstra. As indicated in Bhagavad-gita, whenever we find someone extra-
ordinary preaching the bhakti cult, we should know that he is especially
empowered by Lord Visnu or Lord Krgna. As confirmed in Caitanya-
carilamrta, krsna-Sakli vind nahe tara pravartana: one cannot explain the
glories of the holy name of the Lord without being specifically empowered
by Him. If one criticizes or finds fault with such an empowered personality,
one is to be considered an offender against Lord Visnu and is punishable.
Even though such offenders may dress as Vaisnavas with false tilaka and
mala, they are never forgiven by the Lord if they offend a pure Vaisnava.
There are many instances of this in the sastras.

TEXT 38
a of frrerea ad sed
ager’ fraaat fiitute |
