Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.27.6
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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pitā-guruḥ-tvam-jagatām-adhīśaḥ
—
You are the father, spiritual master, and supreme controller of the universe
Three titles in apposition: pitā (father), guru (preceptor), adhīśa (supreme ruler). Gauḍīyas note that all three are vocations of love — pitṛtva, guru-tva, and īśvaratva are not three jobs but three faces of Bhagavān's relation to the jīva.
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duratyayaḥ-kālaḥ
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insurmountable time
Compound: dur (hard) + atyaya (crossing-over) + kāla (time). Kāla is Kṛṣṇa's potency that no devatā escapes — Indra has just felt its edge. Gauḍīyas treat kāla as a śakti of Bhagavān, not a rival to Him.
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icchā-tanubhiḥ
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by transcendental forms assumed by Your own free will
Compound: icchā (desire) + tanu (body). Kṛṣṇa's avatāras are not karmic births but desire-bodies — He picks them up to act. Six Gosvāmīs cite this kind of phrase to refute the Māyāvāda reading of avatāra as illusion.
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mānam-vidhunvan
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eradicating false pride
Present participle of vi-√dhū (to shake off). The same word-field as dhunvan in Vedic hymns: Bhagavān shakes māda out of beings the way wind shakes water from a leaf. Indra has just been shaken.
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jagat-īśa-māninām
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of those who imagine themselves lords of the universe
Compound: jagat-īśa (universe-lord) + mānin (one who thinks-himself). The Bhāgavatam's diagnosis of the proud — they do not lie about being lords, they merely imagine. Bhakti is the cure for the false imagining.
The word hitāya is significant here. Lord Kṛṣṇa protects religion and chastises the wicked for the benefit of the entire universe. Foolish and faithless pseudopriests criticize God for punishing the living entities through the actions of nature. But whether Lord Kṛṣṇa punishes them indirectly through nature or directly in His incarnations, as mentioned here, He has a perfect right to do so because He is the father, spiritual master and supreme ruler of the entire universe. Another way He curbs down the false attempts of the conditioned souls to establish the kingdom of God without God is through His feature as insurmountable time. It is said, “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” That is a fact, and it is actually the Lord’s mercy that He takes the trouble to rectify our misbehavior, although faithless persons criticize the Lord’s fatherly vigilance.
As you are the complete lord, what purpose do you have in protecting dharma and punishing evil? It is for the auspiciousness of the universe. Because of your natural mercy you have affection for those who follow dharma, like the father towards his son, and the guru towards the soul of his disciple. As adhisa, you are capable of delivering all from suffering and bestowing happiness. But to the evil people, you are insurmountable time, which purifies them through punishment. Therefore to give benefit towards both types of people you perform pastimes through your avatara forms that you accept by your independent will (iccha tanubhih). These are the pastimes of killing the demons such as Putana and protecting the righteous. As well, it is your pastime to deflate the pride of your devotees such as Brahma who become intoxicated with the small power that you give them."
You have acted for my benefit. You are the father and teacher. You distribute your colorful pastimes (samīhase). You destroy pride. This is explicitly mentioned to indicate Indra’s extreme pride.
You have acted for my benefit. Ca means “you yourself.” Or ca means “just.” You perform various pastimes in your body just for the benefit of the world. You remove the pride of those who think they are rulers (jadīśa-mānināṁ), such as me. Or O Lord of the universe (jagad-īśa)! You remove the pride (mānām) of proud persons (māninām) since there is no benefit for the worlds if its protectors have pride. Or ca means “although.” Though you destroy pride, you act for their benefit. Or though you give punishment (last verse) you produce benefit. Though you enact punishment (upāatta-daṇḍaḥ) you are the father and guru. Just as the father gives punishment for the child’s benefit, or the guru for the disciple’s benefit, or a master for the servant’s benefit, or Yama (kālaḥ) gives benefit to all jīvas, so you give punishment for benefit. By experience of hellish punishment the jīvas are cleansed of sin. That is clear in the story of Ajāmila. Or time gives punishment with birth and death and gives benefit by producing detachment. Fathers and others can cheat, but time does not. It is difficult to surpass (duratyayaḥ). You act through your avatāras, who appear by the desire of your devotees (icchā-tanubhiḥ).
- Where in my life am I 'presuming master' that the Lord may need to gently relieve?
- What benefit might He be intending in a punishment I have been resisting?
A father's slap is not the hand of an enemy; a guru's rebuke is not the voice of a foe. Indra now sees: the storm over Vraja was not the wrath of a rival lord but the corrective hand of the universe's father — and time itself is Kṛṣṇa's dharma-tool, not His weapon.
My note
Source: vedabase.io