Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 11.1.4

naivanyatah paribhavo 'sya bhavet kathancin

mat-samsrayasya vibhavonnahanasya nityam

antah kalim yadu-kulasya vidhaya venu-

stambasya vahnim iva santim upaimi dhama

SYNONYMS

na -- not; eva -- certainly; anyatah -- from another cause; paribhavah -- defeat; asya -- of this (dynasty); bhavet -- there can be; kathancit -- by any means; mat-samsrayasya -- which has fully taken shelter of Me; vibhava -- with its power; unnahanasya -- unrestricted; nityam -- always; antah -- within; kalim -- a quarrel; yadu-kulasya -- the Yadu dynasty; vidhaya -- inspiring; venu-stambasya -- of a clump of bamboo plants; vahnim -- a fire; iva -- as; santim -- peace; upaimi -- I shall achieve; dhama -- My eternal personal abode.

TRANSLATION

Lord Krishna thought, "No outside force could ever bring about the defeat of this family, the Yadu dynasty, whose members have always been fully surrendered to Me and are unrestricted in their opulence. But if I inspire a quarrel within the dynasty, that quarrel will act just like a fire created from the friction of bamboo in a grove, and then I shall achieve My real purpose and return to My eternal abode."

PURPORT

Even though Lord Krishna wanted to arrange for the disappearance of the members of the Yadu dynasty, He could not personally kill them, as He had killed many demons, because the Yadu dynasty was His own family. One might ask why Lord Krishna did not arrange for them to be killed by others. Therefore it is stated in this verse, naivanyatah paribhavo 'sya bhavet kathancit: because the Yadu dynasty was the Lord's own family, no one within the universe was capable of killing them, not even the demigods. In fact, Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura points out that no one within the universe was capable of even insulting the members of the Yadu dynasty, what to speak of defeating or killing them. The reason is given here by the words mat-samsrayasya. The members of the Yadu dynasty had fully taken shelter of Krishna, and therefore they were always under the personal protection of the Lord. It is stated, mare krishna rakhe ke, rakhe krishna mare ke: If Krishna protects someone, no one can kill him, and if Krishna wants to kill someone, no one can save him. Krishna had originally requested all of His associates, along with the demigods, to appear on the earth to assist Him in His pastimes. Now that His pastimes were coming to an end on this particular planet and would be transferred to another planet in another universe, Krishna wanted to remove all of His associates from the earth so that in His absence they would not constitute a burden. Since the powerful Yadu dynasty, being the Lord's personal family and army, could not possibly be defeated by anyone, Krishna arranged an internal quarrel, just as the wind in a bamboo forest sometimes rubs the bamboos together and creates a fire that consumes the entire forest.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati has pointed out that ordinary people, hearing of the adventures of the Yadu family, might think that the heroes of the Yadu dynasty are as worshipable as Krishna or that they are independent controllers. In other words, people polluted by Mayavada philosophy might see the Yadu dynasty as being on the same level as Krishna. Therefore, to establish that even the most powerful living entity can never equal or surpass the Supreme Lord, Krishna arranged for the destruction of the Yadu dynasty.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
Dravida dasa Brahmacari