SB 1.1.17

तस्य कर्माण्युदाराणि परिगीतानि सूरिभिः ।
ब्रूहि नः श्रद्दधानानां लीलया दधतः कलाः ॥१७॥

tasya karmāṇy udārāṇi
parigītāni sūribhiḥ
brūhi naḥ śraddadhānānāṁ
līlayā dadhataḥ kalāḥ

tasyaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigtasya

and from him; Bali Mahārāja; before him (King Rantideva); by Him; by His; for Him; for that purpose; for the King; from him (Aśvamedhaja); from him (Devakṣatra); from him (Mahīnara); from him (Punarvasu); from him (Vibhu); from him; from Samaratha; he; his (Agnivarṇa's); his (Dakṣa's); his (Dhruva Mahārāja's); his (Jīmūta's son); his (Mahārāja Bharata's); his (Maitreya's); his (Nandīśvara's); his (Niṣāda's); his (of Mahārāja Parīkṣit); his (Purañjaya's); his (Purūravā's); his (Rantināva's); his (Sandhi's); his (son); His (the gigantic form's); his (the sage's); his (Vikukṣi's); his (Vyāsa's); his; his dead body; his son; in the service of Purañjaya; its; of Bali Mahārāja; of Citrasena; of Devamīḍha; of Dhruva; of Dhruva Mahārāja; of Durvāsā; of Gādhi; of He who is the Supreme Lord; of him (a student studying the Vedas); of him (Ajāmila); of him (Ambarīṣa); with him.—His; karmāṇiplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigkarmani

activities; by which activities; duties; fruitive activities; fruits of activities; in action; in activity; in discharging fruitive activities; in fruitive activities; in fruitive activity; in one's prescribed duty; in the churning; in the matter of; in the performance of prescribed duties; in the sacrifice; in the work; in work; of a ritualistic ceremony; of fruitive activity; performance of; performances; prescribed duties; the activity.—transcendental acts; udārāṇiplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigudārāṇi

magnanimous.—magnanimous; parigītāniplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigparigītāni

broadcast.—broadcast; sūribhiḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigsūribhiḥ

by devotees; by great devotees; by pure devotees; by the great sages; by the great souls.—by the great souls; brūhiplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigbrūhi

kindly describe; kindly explain; kindly inform us; kindly speak; please explain; please narrate; please speak; please state; please tell; please tell us; tell.—please speak; naḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bignah

among ourselves; among us; as we are; by us (Brahmā and the other demigods); by us; for us; like us (who are so engaged); like us; my; not; of all of us; of all of us demons; of ourselves; of us; our; ours; ourselves; to me; to us; toward us; unto me; unto us; upon us; us (the demigods); us; us demigods; we; with us.—unto us; śraddadhānānāmplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigśraddadhānānām

ready to receive with respect; to a receptive audience; who are very much respectful.—ready to receive with respect; līlayāplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_biglilaya

as a matter of pastimes; as His pastime; by His pastime; by manifestation of pastimes; by pastimes; by pastimes of playing; by sports; by the pastime of; by the pastimes; easily; in His pastimes; in the course of the pastimes; pastimes; playfully; simply by pastimes; very easily; very easily as His pastime.—pastimes; dadhataḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigdadhataḥ

advented.—advented; kalāḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigkalah

and parts of the plenary portions; expansions; incarnations; its parts; parts and parcels; parts of plenary portions; plenary portions; portion of the plenary portion; portions; portions of light; portions of the plenary portions; very pleasing.—incarnations. ¶

His transcendental acts are magnificent and gracious, and great learned sages like Nārada sing of them. Please, therefore, speak to us, who are eager to hear about the adventures He performs in His various incarnations. ¶

The Personality of Godhead is never inactive as some less intelligent persons suggest. His works are magnificent and magnanimous. His creations both material and spiritual are all wonderful and contain all variegatedness. They are described nicely by such liberated souls as Śrīla Nārada, Vyāsa, Vālmīki, Devala, Asita, Madhva, Śrī Caitanya, Rāmānuja, Viṣṇu Svāmī, Nimbārka, Śrīdhara, Viśvanātha, Baladeva, Bhaktivinoda, Siddhānta Sarasvatī and many other learned and self-realized souls. These creations, both material and spiritual, are full of opulence, beauty and knowledge, but the spiritual realm is more magnificent due to its being full of knowledge, bliss and eternity. The material creations are manifested for some time as perverted shadows of the spiritual kingdom and can be likened to cinemas. They attract people of less intelligent caliber who are attracted by false things. Such foolish men have no information of the reality, and they take it for granted that the false material manifestation is the all in all. But more intelligent men guided by sages like Vyāsa and Nārada know that the eternal kingdom of God is more delightful, larger, and eternally full of bliss and knowledge. Those who are not conversant with the activities of the Lord and His transcendental realm are sometimes favored by the Lord in His adventures as incarnations wherein He displays the eternal bliss of His association in the transcendental realm. By such activities He attracts the conditioned souls of the material world. Some of these conditioned souls are engaged in the false enjoyment of material senses and others in simply negating their real life in the spiritual world. These less intelligent persons are known as karmīs, or fruitive workers, and jñānīs, or dry mental speculators. But above these two classes of men is the transcendentalist known as sātvata, or the devotee, who is busy neither with rampant material activity nor with material speculation. He is engaged in the positive service of the Lord, and thereby he derives the highest spiritual benefit unknown to the karmīs and jñānīs. ¶

As the supreme controller of both the material and spiritual worlds, the Lord has different incarnations of unlimited categories. Incarnations like Brahmā, Rudra, Manu, Pṛthu and Vyāsa are His material qualitative incarnations, but His incarnations like Rāma, Narasiṁha, Varāha and Vāmana are His transcendental incarnations. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the fountainhead of all incarnations, and He is therefore the cause of all causes. ¶