Some people think that the purpose of God’s existence is to protect them while they enjoy life.

Krishna as God in his highest manifestation is much grander than a mere cosmic constable. He is a trans-cosmic enjoyer, delighting in eternal pastimes with his devotees in the spiritual world. He descends for inviting us to join him, as the Bhagavad-gita (04.09) indicates.

During his descent, he also restores order in this world, but that order is not intended to create an arena for us to enjoy this world. Life here is fraught with danger, frequented with distress and finished with death. Our fervent craving to enjoy in such a world indicates the massive disorder within our heart. Krishna comes to correct that inner disorder.

How does he do that? By love. He reveals his splendid love-filled pastimes to attract our heart back to him. As we become attracted to him, we start seeing this world as an arena not for enjoyment but for redirecting our love back to him. This vision inspires us to exile disruptive material desires from our heart, thereby restoring inner order.

In earlier ages, Krishna also established external order as an aid for restoring inner order. But the present age of Kali is a time-slot meant primarily for those souls who want to defy him. That’s why in this age he focuses more on restoring internal order for those who want it than on establishing external order for everyone. If we want inner order, he makes it extraordinarily easy through his ever-accessible incarnation as the holy name.

When we take shelter of the holy names, we realize that even amidst this disorderly age Krishna is very much with us, ready to restore order within, and help us join his transcendental life of love.

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 04 Text 08

“To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium.”