Text 47
kopas te ’khila-śikṣārthaṁ
na dveṣān na ca matsarāt
bibhrato bhagavan sattvaṁ
sthiti-pālana-tatparaḥ
kopaḥ — anger; te — Your; akhila — of everyone; śikṣā — for the instruction; artham — meant; na — not; dveṣāt — out of hatred; na ca — nor; matsarāt — out of envy; bibhrataḥ — of You who are sustaining; bhagavan — O Supreme Lord; sattvam — the mode of goodness; sthiti — maintenance; pālana — and protection; tat-paraḥ — having as its intent.
Your anger is meant for instructing everyone; it is not a manifestation of hatred or envy. O Supreme Lord, You sustain the pure mode of goodness, and You become angry only to maintain and protect this world.
The Kurus admit that Lord Balarāma’s anger was entirely appropriate and in fact was meant for their benefit. As Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī puts it, the Kurus meant to say, “Because You exhibited this anger, we have now become civilized, whereas previously we were wicked and could not see You, blinded as we were by pride.”