देवद्विषां निगमवर्त्मनि निष्ठितानां पूर्भिर्मयेन विहिताभिरदृश्यतूर्भिः लोकान्घ्नतां मतिविमोहमतिप्रलोभं वेषं विधाय बहु भाष्यत औपधर्म्यम्
deva-dviṣāṁ nigama-vartmani niṣṭhitānāṁ pūrbhir mayena vihitābhir adṛśya-tūrbhiḥ lokān ghnatāṁ mati-vimoham atipralobhaṁ veṣaṁ vidhāya bahu bhāṣyata aupadharmyam
Synonyms
deva-dviṣām—of those who were envious of the devotees of the Lord; nigama—the Vedas; vartmani—on the path of; niṣṭhitānām—of the well situated; pūrbhiḥ—by rockets; mayena—made by the great scientist Maya; vihitābhiḥ—made by; adṛśya-tūrbhiḥ—unseen in the sky; lokān—the different planets; ghnatām—of the killers; mati-vimoham—bewilderment of the mind; atipralobham—very attractive; veṣam—dress; vidhāya—having done so; bahu bhāṣyate—would talk very much; aupadharmyam—subreligious principles..
Translation
When the atheists, after being well versed in the Vedic scientific knowledge, would annihilate inhabitants of different planets, flying unseen in the sky on well-built rockets prepared by the great scientist Maya, the Lord would bewilder their minds by dressing Himself attractively as Buddha and would preach on subreligious principles.
Purport
This incarnation of Lord Buddha is not exactly the same Buddha incarnation as we have in the present history of mankind. According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, the Buddha incarnation mentioned in this verse appeared in a different Kali age. In the duration of life of one Manu there are more than seventy-two Kali-yugas, and in one of them the particular type of Buddha mentioned here would appear. Lord Buddha incarnates at a time when the people are most materialistic and preaches common-sense religious principles. Such ahiṁsā is not a religious principle itself, but it is an important quality for persons who are actually religious. It is a common-sense religion because one is advised to do no harm to any other animal or living being because such harmful actions are equally harmful to him who does the harm. But before learning these principles of nonviolence one has to learn two other principles, namely to be humble and to be prideless. Unless one is humble and prideless, one cannot be harmless and nonviolent. And after being nonviolent one has to learn tolerance and simplicity of living. One must offer respects to the great religious preachers and spiritual leaders and also train the senses for controlled action, learning to be unattached to family and home, and enacting devotional service to the Lord, etc. At the ultimate stage one has to accept the Lord and become His devotee; otherwise there is no religion. In religious principles there must be God in the center, otherwise simple moral instructions are simply subreligious principles, generally known as upadharma, or nearness to religious principles.