826 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 4, Ch. 21

maitreyah uvaca—the great saint Maitreya said; ganga—the River Ganges;
yamunayoh—of the River Yamuna; nadyoh—of the two rivers; antara—
between; ksetram—the land; avasan—living there; arabdhan—destined; eva—
like; bubhuje—enjoyed; bhogan—fortunes; punya—pious activities; jiha-
saya—for the purpose of diminishing.

TRANSLATION

The great saintly sage Maitreya told Vidura: My dear Vidura, King
Prthu lived in the tract of land between the two great rivers Ganges and
Yamuna. Because he was very opulent, it appeared that he was enjoying
his destined fortune in order to diminish the results of his past pious
activities.

PURPORT

The terms “pious” and “impious” are applicable only in reference to
the activities of an ordinary living being. But Maharaja Prthu was a directly
empowered incarnation of Lord Visnu; therefore he was not subject to
the reactions of pious or impious activities. As we have already explained
previously, when a living being is specifically empowered by the Supreme
Lord to act for a particular purpose, he is called a saktyavesa-avatara.
Prthu Maharaja was not only a saktyavesa-avatara but also a great devotee.
A devotee is not subjected to the reactions resulting from past deeds. In
the Brahma-samhita it is said, karmani nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhajam:
for devotees the results of past pious and impious activities are nullified
by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The words arabdhan eva mean
‘tas if achieved by past deeds,” but in the case of Prthu Maharaja there was
no question of reaction to past deeds, and thus the word eva is used here
to indicate comparison to ordinary persons. In Bhagavad-gita the Lord says,
avajananti mari midhah. This means that sometimes people misunderstand
an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be an ordinary
man. The Supreme Godhead, His incarnations or His devotees may pose
themselves as ordinary men, but they are never to be considered as such.
Nor should an ordinary man not supported by authorized statements of
the sastras and acaryas be accepted as an incarnation or devotee. By the
evidence of sastra, Sanatana Gosvami detected Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu
to be a direct incarnation of Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
although Lord Caitanya never disclosed the fact. It is therefore generally
recommended that the acarya or guru should not be accepted as an
ordinary man.
