SB 3.16.24
tat te ’nabhistam iva sattva-nidher vidhitsoh
ksemam janaya nija-saktibhir uddhrtareh
naitavata try-adhipater bata visva-bhartus
tejah ksatam tv avanatasya sa te vinodah
Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
Dear Lord, You never want the auspicious path to be destroyed, for You are the reservoir of all goodness. Just to benefit people in general, You destroy the evil element by Your mighty potency. You are the proprietor of the three creations and the maintainer of the entire universe. Therefore Your potency is not reduced by Your submissive behavior. Rather, by submission You exhibit Your transcendental pastimes.
Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
Lord Krsna was never reduced in His position by becoming a cowherd boy or by offering respect to Sudama Brahmana or His other devotees like Nanda Maharaja, Vasudeva, Maharaja Yudhisthira and the Pandavas’ mother, Kunti. Everyone knew that He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, yet His behavior was exemplary. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is sac-cid-ananda-vigraha; His form is completely spiritual, full of bliss and knowledge, and it is eternal. Because the living entities are His parts and parcels, originally they also belong to the same quality of eternal form as the Lord, but when they come in contact with maya, the material potency, due to their forgetfulness their existential constitution is covered. We should try to understand the appearance of Lord Krsna in this spirit, as the Kumaras pray to Him. He is eternally a cowherd boy at Vrndavana, He is eternally the leader of the Battle of Kuruksetra, and He is eternally the opulent prince of Dvaraka and the lover of the damsels of Vrndavana. All His appearances are meaningful because they show His real characteristics to the conditioned souls, who have forgotten their relationship with the Supreme Lord. He does everything for their benefit. The force exhibited in the Battle of Kuruksetra by the desire of Krsna and through the agency of Arjuna was also necessary because when people become too irreligious, force is required. Nonviolence in this respect is rascaldom.