Bewildering Pastimes 81

dharma -samsthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge

‘In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as
to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after
millennium.”’

When God incarnates, He has two missions—to vanquish the demons
and deliver the sddhus, the faithful devotees. The word sddhtinam, which
means ‘“‘saintly persons,” refers to devotees. It has nothing to do with
worldly honesty or dishonesty, morality or immorality; it has nothing to
do with material activities. Sometimes we may think that the word sddhu
refers to a person who is materially good or moral, but actually the word
sadhu refers to one who is on the transcendental platform. A sddhu,
therefore, is a devotee, because one who engages in devotional service is
transcendental to material qualities (sa gundn samatityaitan).

Now, the Lord comes to deliver the devotees (paritrandya sddhtnam) ,
but it is clearly stated in Bhagavad-gita (14.26) that a devotee transcends
the material qualities (sa gundn samatityaitan). A devotee is in a tran-
scendental position because he is no longer under the control of the three
material modes of nature—goodness, passion, and ignorance. But if a
sadhu is already delivered, being on the transcendental platform, then
where is the necessity of delivering him? This question may arise. The
Lord comes to deliver the devotee, but the devotee is already delivered.
Therefore the word vidambanam, meaning ‘‘bewildering,”’ is used in this
verse because this appears contradictory.

The answer to this contradiction is that a s@dhu, a devotee, does not re-
quire deliverance, but because he is very much anxious to see the
Supreme Lord face to face, Krsna comes not to deliver him from the
clutches of matter, from which he has already been delivered, but to
satisfy his inner desire. Just as a devotee wants to satisfy the Lord in all
respects, the Lord even more wants to satisfy the devotee. Such are the
exchanges of loving affairs. Even in our ordinary dealings, if we love
someone we want to satisfy him or her, and he or she also wants to
reciprocate. So if the reciprocation of loving affairs exists in this material
world, in what an elevated way must it exist in the spiritual world. There
is a verse in which the Lord says, ‘‘The sddhu is My heart, and I am also
the sddhu’s heart.”’ The sadhu is always thinking of Krsna, and Krsna is
always thinking of the sddhu, His devotee.

The appearance and disappearance of the Lord within this material
world are called cikirsitam, pastimes. It is Krsna’s pastime that He comes.
Of course, when the Lord comes He has some work to perform—to
