praviá¹£á¹as tu gá¹›haá¹ pitroḥ
pariá¹£vaktaḥ sva-mÄtá¹›bhiḥ
vavande Å›irasÄ sapta
devakÄ«-pramukhÄ mudÄ
praviá¹£á¹aḥ - after entering; tu - but; gá¹›ham - houses; pitroḥ - of the father; pariá¹£vaktaḥ - embraced; sva-mÄtá¹›bhiḥ - by His own mothers; vavande - offered obeisances; Å›irasÄ - His head; sapta - seven; devakÄ« - DevakÄ«; pramukhÄ - headed by; mudÄ - gladly.
It appears that Vasudeva, the father of Lord Kṛṣṇa, had completely separate residential quarters where he lived with his eighteen wives, out of whom ÅšrÄ«matÄ« DevakÄ« is the real mother of Lord Kṛṣṇa. But in spite of this, all other stepmothers were equally affectionate to Him, as will be evident from the following verse. Lord Kṛṣṇa also did not distinguish His real mother from His stepmothers, and He equally offered His obeisances unto all the wives of Vasudeva present on the occasion. According to scriptures also, there are seven mothers: (1) the real mother, (2) the wife of the spiritual master, (3) the wife of a brÄhmaṇa, (4) the wife of the king, (5) the cow, (6) the nurse, and (7) the earth. All of them are mothers. Even by this injunction of the Å›Ästras, the stepmother, who is the wife of the father, is also as good as the mother because the father is also one of the spiritual masters. Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of the universe, plays the part of an ideal son just to teach others how to treat their stepmothers.