Bhagavata Purana

by G. V. Tagare | 1950 | 780,972 words | ISBN-10: 8120838203 | ISBN-13: 9788120838208

This page describes The Lord’s descent in Devaki’s womb which is chapter 2 of the English translation of the Bhagavata Purana, one of the eighteen major puranas containing roughly 18,000 metrical verses. Topics include ancient Indian history, religion, philosophy, geography, mythology, etc. The text has been interpreted by various schools of philosophy. This is the second chapter of the Tenth Skandha of the Bhagavatapurana.

Go directly to: Footnotes.

Chapter 2 - The Lord’s descent in Devakī’s womb

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Śrī Śuka continued:

1-2. Aided by asuras like Pralamba, Baka, Cāṇūra, Tṛṇāvarta, Agha (the great devourer), Muṣṭika, Arista, Dvivida, Pūtanā, Keśī, Dhenuka and forming an alliance with other asura kings like Bāṇa and Bhauma, and with the support of Jarāsandha, the king of Magadha, the mighty Kaṃsa began to harass Yadus.

3. Hard pressed by him, they migrated in disguise to different countries, viz. Kurus, Pāñcālas, Kekayas, Śālvas, Vidarbhas, Niṣadhas, Videhas and Kosalas as well.

4-5. Some of his relatives, however, continued to serve him obediently. When Kaṃsa, the son of Ugrasena, killed six sons of Devakī, a part of the lustre of Lord Viṣṇu, known as Ananta, became the seventh child entering Devakī’s womb who enhanced her joy and grief at the same time.

6. Being cognisant of the fear caused by Kaṃsa to Yadus, his proteges, he commanded his Yoga-Māyā (as follows):

7. “Oh auspicious goddess! Do you go to Vraja adorned with residence of cowherds and cows (by their affluence)? There, in the settlement of cowherds headed by Nanda dwells Rohiṇī, the wife of Vāsudeva. His other wives too being apprehensive of Kaṃsa have gone underground (stay in secret places).

8. In the womb of Devakī lies my part-manifestation known as Śeṣa. Taking him from her womb, transfer him to Rohiṇīs womb.

9. I shall then become her son by my part-manifestation (with my full powers[1]) while you will be born of Yaśodā, the wife of Nanda.

10. Recognizing you as the supreme dispenser of boons to persons desirous of progeny and bestower of boons granting all desires, people will worship you with incense, offerings of food and other presents.

11-12. People will erect temples for you on the earth and will designate you with various names such as Durgā, Bhadrakālī, Vijayā, Vaiṣṇavī, Kumudā, Caṇḍikā, Kṛṣṇā, Mādhavī, Kanyakā, Māyā, Nārāyaṇī, Īśānī, Śāradā and Ambika.

13. Due to his being taken out of the womb of Devakī (and transfer to that of Rohiṇī), he will be known as Saṅkarṣaṇa. As he would give delight to the world, he would be called Rāma, and Bala on account of his eminence among the mighty people.

14. When commanded by the Lord thus, she accepted it with the words, ‘Yes! That will be done’. After circumambulating him, she went down to the earth, and executed his orders.

15. When the child from the womb of Devakī was transferred to that of Rohiṇī by the goddess Yoga-nidrā, citizens of Mathurā sorrowfully talked about the miscarriage of Devakī.

16. And the Almighty Lord, who is the soul of the universe, and gives assurance of safety to his votaries, entered the mind of Vasudeva[2], with all his divine potencies in their fullness.

17. Being surcharged with (lit. bearing) the glorious presence of the Supreme Person (Lord Viṣṇu), Vasudeva resplendent like unto the Sun, became unapproachable and unassailable to all created beings.

18. Thereupon, like unto the (eastern) direction bearing the moon, the delighter of all, queen Devakī, refulgent with pure sattva conceived in her mind—when conveyed through psychological process (vedha-dīkṣā) by Vasudeva—the Lord, the auspiciousness of the world incarnate[3], whose potencies are undiminishing, and who as the indwelling Soul of all, was already present in her.

19. Like unto the flame of a lamp enclosed by an earthen pot, or like deep scholarship of a narrow-minded person who refuses to impart it (to others), Devakī, though, now the abiding place of the Lord who is the abode of all the universe, did not shine superbly (failed to give delight to the world at large, though she herself enjoyed the ecstasy of the presence of the Lord), as she was (then) imprisoned in the palace of Kaṃsa, the king of Bhojas.

20. When Kaṃa perceived that Devakī, bearing in her womb the invincible Lord Viṣṇu and beaming with pure smiles, illuminated the whole (prison-) house with her effulgence, he said (to himself), “This is Hari who, intent on robbing me of my life, has certainly entered her (Devakī’s) womb, like a lion entering a den, for never before did she appear so brilliant.

21. “What immediate remedy should I now adopt in this matter today? For determined as he is on accomplishing his purpose (viz. serving the interest of gods), he would not desist from his prowess (in killing me, when he is born. Should I finish with Devakī just now, before he is born?—But even a selfish person does not wreck his reputation and prowess by such a deed). For this murder of a woman, my own sister in pregnancy, will forthwith spoil my reputation, prosperity for all time to come and (will affect even) my life as well.

22. He who lives by perpetrating extreme atrocities is as good as dead even during his life-time. People at large pronounce curses upon him while alive. When his body falls dead, he will surely go to the hell of blinding darkness, the destination of those who identify their Souls with their bodies.[4]

23. Reasoning with himself thus, the mighty Kaṃsa desisted (of his own accord) from his darkest design (of killing Devakī). Cherishing inveterate enmity to Lord Hari, he continued to await his birth.

24. Pondering over Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of the senses, (suspecting that he may manifest himself at any moment and kill him) while sitting, lying, standing, eating, moving about and drinking, Kaṃsa saw that the whole world was pervaded by Him.[5]

25. Gods Brahmā and Śiva accompanied by sages like Nārada and others (such as Sanaka, Sanandana) and gods along with their attendants arrived at that place, and glorified the Lord who showers all desired boons.

The gods said:

26.[6] We resort as a shelter to you who are of true resolve; to attain to whom, truthfulness is the only highest means; who exist and are the reality in the past, present and future (before the creation, during the subsistence and after the destruction of the universe); the cause and the source of the three elements—the earth, water and fire (aggregatively known as sat—) and the wind and the ether (collectively called tyat in Tait. Upa 2.6.1); who reside in them as antaryāmin; who are the truth of the truth (the highest Reality even after the dissolution of the universe); who are the promulgator of truthful speech and impartially equable vision (towards all) and the embodiment of truthfulness.

27.[7] The primeval tree in the form of (visible) universe has on one base (viz. Prakṛti), two fruits (viz. pleasure and pain), three roots (viz. the guṇas, sattva, rajas and tamas), four kinds of secretions (viz. the objectives of human life, religion, property and wealth, sensual desires and liberation), five attributes (the sense organs), six folds or states (viz. birth, existence, growth, ripeness, decay and destruction or natural affections viz. hunger and thirst, grief and delusion, old age and death), seven kinds of barks (the constituents of the body viz skin, blood, flesh, albumen, bone, marrow and semen), eight branches (the five elements—bhūtas, the mind, the reason and the ego), nine hollows (the ‘gates’ of the body, viz. two sockets of eyes, two cavities of ears, two nostrils, the mouth, the organs of urination and defecation), ten leaves (the vital airs—prāṇas), two birds (the individual Soul and the Indwelling Supreme Soul).

28. You alone are the cause of the (above-mentioned tree in the from of) phenomenal universe; You are its resting place (after its dissolution), and You are its protector. Those whose minds (knowledge or wisdom) are clouded by Your Māyā (the deluding potency), look upon you as many, but not so those who possess spiritual wisdom.

29. You are essentially knowledge and consciousness (the internal controller of all). Repeatedly You assume forms for conferring happiness on the mobile and immobile creation. Your forms are purely sāttvic (unadulterated with rajas and tamas). They bring happiness to the righteous and mete out destruction to the wicked.

30. Oh lotus-eyed god, some persons who have fixed their minds through concentration on you, the embodiment of pure sattva, easily cross the ocean of saṃsāra (as is done by the great) by the raft in the form of your feet as if it (saṃsāra) were as insignificant as the shallow footprint of a calf.

31. Oh self-effulgent Lord! Having themselves crossed the extremely impassable, terrible ocean of saṃsāra, those devotees of unbounded friendliness to all creatures have (however) gone to the other side (of saṃsāra) leaving behind them the boat in the form of your lotus-like feet (i.e. the path of devotion); for you are gracious unto the righteous.

32. Oh lotus-eyed god! Those others who follow the path of knowledge and regard themselves as emancipated, get their minds and intellect corrupted due to their lack of devotion to you (or whose mind is clouded, though they are clever in disputations). These persons, attaining with great difficulty to a high state (e.g. birth in a noble family), fall down therefrom, as they feel no respect for your feet.

33. Never do your devotees who have cherished deep affection to you, deviate from the right path that way, Oh Lord of Lakṣmī! Protected on every side by you, they dauntlessly move about trading over the heads of the commanders of armies of obstacles and impediment, Oh Lord.

34. For the sake of preservation of the world you assume an absolutely pure—sāttvic—body which bestows the desired boons (puruṣārthas) to embodied beings, and wherewith people (belonging to different āśramas—stages in life) worship you by studying the Vedas, performance of religious rituals, Yogic practices, austere penance and deep meditation (worship of the Lord is impossible in the absence of a corporeal form).

35. Oh creator of the universe! Had you not assumed this absolutely pure sāttvic form of yours, the Supreme direct knowledge which thoroughly annihilates ignorance and the notion of difference resulting from it, could not be engendered at all. Your worship can only be inferred (and not realized directly) by the light shed by guṇas (or the cognitive senses) as a particular guṇa can become in a special way and with a particular person, a source of light or knowledge. (When you are worshipped through your pure sāttvic form and the mind becomes one with you, God realization takes place through your grace).

36. Your name and form along with your excellences, deeds and births cannot be comprehended fully and described (as they are divine and super-natural). You are the direct witness of everything, but your nature can only be inferred (and not directly perceived) by the mind and the Vedic words. But Oh self-effulgent Lord! Your votaries, however, do realize you directly while they are engaged in their acts (of worship and meditation).

37. He who during the performance of his activities has his mind concentrated on your lotus-like feet by hearing, singing, reminding others and contemplating on your auspicious names and forms, does not deserve to be born again (in saṃsāra).

38. Fortunately, On Hari! The heavy burden of this earth which represents your foot, has been removed by the birth (avatāra) of Your Lordship. It is our good luck that we shall now see the earth impressed with your auspiciously-marked beautiful foot-prints and the heavens showered with Your mercy.

39. Oh Lord! Verily we cannot conceive any other reason, except your own pleasure, of assuming a form (birth) that You, the unborn are born. Oh Lord You are eternally free and a shelter from fear. Birth, continuation in life and death in the case of individual Souls are brought through avidyā (ignorance about you).

40. Oh Lord! Now be pleased to protect us and the three worlds and relieve the earth of her heavy burden as you did (in the past) by incarnating Yourself in the form of a fish, a horse (Hayagrīva), a tortoise, a man-lion (Nṛsiṃha), a boar (Varāha), a swan, a Kṣattriya (Rāma), a Brāhmaṇa (Paraśurāma) and a god (Vāmana). Our salutations to You, Oh the best and foremost of Yadus.

41. (Addressing Devakī):

“Oh mother (Devakī)! It is really a good luck that the Supreme Person, the veritable Almighty Lord himself has entered your womb with his aṃśa (divine powers which are his parts), for the sake of our welfare. Let there be no more fear from Kaṃsa, the king of Bhojas whose death is imminent. Your son will be the protector of Yadus”.

Śrī Śuka said:

42. Having thus eulogized the Supreme Person whose nature is distinct from the visible universe, the gods headed by Brahmā and Śiva returned to heaven.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

To substantiate the statement kṛsṇastu bhagavān svayam (Kṛṣṇa is the Almighty Lord himself) Bhāvāratha Dīpikā gives different explanations of aṃśa- bhāga. VT. and others endorse Bhāvāratha Dīpikā but Brahma Purāṇa accepts Kṛṣṇa as ‘part-manifestation’.

[2]:

And not through usual physiological process—Bhāvāratha Dīpikā

[3]:

Or: The Lord who, though omnipresent, assumes a limited body for showing His grace to His devotees—SR.

[4]:

Padaratnāvalī’s text reads:

dehe mṛte tam anu hyartha-kāmau
yaśomalaṃ gaur abhimānino dhruvam /

When the body of the man who identifies with his Soul becomes defunct his objectives viz. artha, kāma, his pure reputation, knowledge and emancipation (mokṣa) are surely lost to him.

[5]:

Kaṃsa was made to think of Him by Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of senses, in all states and actions in life for manifesting himself to Kaṃsa who thus perceived that the world is full of Kṛṣṇa—Subodhinī

[6]:

Bhāgavata Candrikā: We have sought shelter in You Who carry out what is avowed by you and are hence of real resolve; Who are distinct from the real world consisting of the sentient (cid) and non-sentient (acid); Whose body consists of three real entities—Prakṛti, Puruṣa and Time (kāla); Whose wish is carried out as you are the controller of the whole world comprising of Prakṛti (Puruṣa etc); Who are the source of the real (prapañca consisting of the intelligent and non-intelligent (cid and acid); Who abide in the highest part of the sky; Who are the real of the reals; Who are the director of the Moon (the path of righteousness) and the Sun (truthfulness); Who are the embodiment of the unmodifiable reality.

Padaratnāvalī: We sought refuge in You Who are the embodiment of perfect Bliss and Knowledge; absolutely distinct from the Earth and other elements; Who are the main gist of the three Vedas; the source of Prapañca which is a reality; abiding as antaryāmin in the world, a reality; the director and donor of the spiritual wisdom and happiness to the world—a reality; Whose blissful essential nature is unaffected.

[7]:

(i) Bhāgavata Candrikā interprets ādi-vṛkṣa as ‘the corporeal body’ and its eight branches are hands, feet, neck, chest and stomach and the ‘leaves’ are ten objects of senses.

(2) Padaratnāvalī regards the universe as ‘the eternal’ tree which has Hari as its one (the sole) support, two fruits (viz. puṇya and pāpa—merit and sin); the three roots are vyāhṛtis, vedas or states); four results are heaven, hell, darkness (tamas) and emancipation; five special roots are vital airs (prāṇas). The rest of details are like Bhāvāratha Dīpikā Hari destroys this tree. Hence Hari’s supremacy.

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