शिष्टाभिलक्ष्यो भूतात्मा धर्मत्राणार्थचेष्टितः ।अन्तर्यामी कलारूपः कालावयवसाक्षिकः॥
śiṣṭābhilakṣyo bhūtātmā dharmatrāṇārthaceṣṭitaḥ ·antaryāmī kalārūpaḥ kālāvayavasākṣikaḥ
the goal aimed at by the wise and virtuous
Yaśodā sees the entire universe in the infant Kṛṣṇa's open mouth; the vision reveals the Lord as perceived by the discerning (śiṣṭa); she forgets through Yoga-māyā, which he then withdraws.
the Self of all beings
The avadhūta's first guru-lesson within the Uddhava Gītā identifies the ātman that dwells in all creatures as the Lord himself—the bhūtātmā, the inner Self of every being.
who acts for the protection of dharma
cf. Gītā, "dharma-saṃsthāpanārthāya"
In Viṣṇu's own response to Brahmā at the Milk Ocean, he declares that every avatāra is for the establishment of dharma—an explicit parallel to the Bhagavad Gītā verse B.G 4.7-8.
the inner controller of all
Kṛṣṇa tells Uddhava: 'I sit in every heart as witness of all acts and thoughts'; knowing him as antaryāmī is itself the path of direct attainment.
whose form is the kalās, the phases and parts
S.B.G 11 devotes multiple chapters to kāla as the Lord's immanent form; in B.G 11.32 Kṛṣṇa declares 'I am time, the great destroyer,' which is the basis of this epithet.
the witness of the divisions of time
In the Vibhūti section of the Uddhava Gītā, Kṛṣṇa declares: 'Among the divisions of time I am the saṃvatsara (year)'—he witnesses all time's segments from transcendence.
