Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.7.25

tathāyaḿ cāvatāras te

bhuvo bhāra-jihīrṣayā

svānāḿ cānanya-bhāvānām

anudhyānāya cāsakṛt

SYNONYMS

tathā — thus; ayam — this; ca — and; avatāraḥ — incarnation; te — Your; bhuvaḥ — of the material world; bhāra — burden; jihīrṣayā — for removing; svānām — of the friends; ca ananya-bhāvānām — and of the exclusive devotees; anudhyānāya — for remembering repeatedly; ca — and; asakṛt — fully satisfied.

TRANSLATION

Thus You descend as an incarnation to remove the burden of the world and to benefit Your friends, especially those who are Your exclusive devotees and are rapt in meditation upon You.

PURPORT

It appears that the Lord is partial to His devotees. Everyone is related with the Lord. He is equal to everyone, and yet He is more inclined to His own men and devotees. The Lord is everyone's father. No one can be His father, and yet no one can be His son. His devotees are His kinsmen, and His devotees are His relations. This is His transcendental pastime. It has nothing to do with mundane ideas of relations, fatherhood or anything like that. As mentioned above, the Lord is above the modes of material nature, and thus there is nothing mundane about His kinsmen and relations in devotional service.