Srimad Bhagavatam — Dashama Skandha, Shloka 27
Kṛṣṇa Defeats Bāṇāsura and Receives Śiva’s Prayers
The Śoṇitapura Battle and the Jvara Episode
नानाभावैर्लीलयैवोपपन्नै- र्देवान् साधून् लोकसेतून् बिभर्षि । हंस्युन्मार्गान् हिंसया वर्तमानान् जन्मैतत्ते भारहाराय भूमे: ॥ २७ ॥
nānā-bhāvair līlayaivopapannair devān sādhūn loka-setūn bibharṣi haṁsy unmārgān hiṁsayā vartamānān janmaitat te bhāra-hārāya bhūmeḥ
With varied intentions You enact Your līlās to uphold the devas, the saintly, and the world’s codes of dharma. By those same pastimes You slay those who stray from the right path and live by violence. Indeed, this incarnation is to relieve the earth’s burden.
As Lord Kṛṣṇa states in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.29) :
FAQs
This verse says Krishna appears through His līlā to sustain the devas and saintly people, uphold dharma (the world’s order), and remove the earth’s burden by destroying those devoted to violence.
In the Bhagavatam narrative, Krishna’s presence preserves the moral and spiritual structure of society—protecting those who maintain dharma—while restraining destructive forces that threaten it.
Support dharmic institutions and saintly company, avoid harm-based livelihoods and cruelty, and see divine protection as aligned with living nonviolently and upholding truth and responsibility.