ṛṣer vinirgame kaá¹so
yadÅ«n matvÄ surÄn iti
devakyÄ garbha-sambhÅ«taá¹
viṣṇuṠca sva-vadhaṠprati
devakīṠvasudevaṠca
nigá¹›hya nigaá¸air gá¹›he
jÄtaá¹ jÄtam ahan putraá¹
tayor ajana-Å›aá¹…kayÄ

 á¹›á¹£eḥ - of the great sage NÄrada; vinirgame - on the departure (after giving information); kaá¹saḥ - Kaá¹sa; yadÅ«n - all the members of the Yadu dynasty; matvÄ - thinking of; surÄn - as demigods; iti - thus; devakyÄḥ - of DevakÄ«; garbha-sambhÅ«tam - the children born from the womb; viṣṇum - (accepting) as Viṣṇu; ca - and; sva-vadham prati - fearing his own death from Viṣṇu; devakÄ«m - DevakÄ«; vasudevam ca - and her husband, Vasudeva; nigá¹›hya - arresting; nigaá¸aiḥ - by iron shackles; gá¹›he - confined at home; jÄtam jÄtam - each one who was born, one after another; ahan - killed; putram - the sons; tayoḥ - of Vasudeva and DevakÄ«; ajana-Å›aá¹…kayÄ - with the doubt that they would be Viṣṇu.


Text

After the departure of the great saint NÄrada, Kaá¹sa thought that all the members of the Yadu dynasty were demigods and that any of the children born from the womb of DevakÄ« might be Viṣṇu. Fearing his death, Kaá¹sa arrested Vasudeva and DevakÄ« and chained them with iron shackles. Suspecting each of the children to be Viṣṇu, Kaá¹sa killed them one after another because of the prophecy that Viṣṇu would kill him.

Purport

ÅšrÄ«la JÄ«va GosvÄmÄ«, in his notes on this verse, has mentioned how NÄrada Muni gave Kaá¹sa this information. This incident is described in the Hari-vaá¹Å›a. NÄrada Muni went to see Kaá¹sa by providence, and Kaá¹sa received him very well. NÄrada, therefore, informed him that any one of the sons of DevakÄ« might be Viṣṇu. Because Viṣṇu was to kill him, Kaá¹sa should not spare any of Devakī’s children, NÄrada Muni advised. NÄrada’s intention was that Kaá¹sa, by killing the children, would increase his sinful activities so that Kṛṣṇa would soon appear to kill him. Upon receiving the instructions of NÄrada Muni, Kaá¹sa killed all the children of DevakÄ« one after another.

The word ajana-Å›aá¹…kayÄ indicates that Lord Viṣṇu never takes birth (ajana) and that He therefore appeared as Kṛṣṇa, taking birth just like a human being (mÄnuṣīṠtanum ÄÅ›ritam). Kaá¹sa attempted to kill all the babies born of DevakÄ« and Vasudeva, although he knew that if Viṣṇu were born, He would not be killed. Actually it came to pass that when Viṣṇu appeared as Kṛṣṇa, Kaá¹sa could not kill Him; rather, as foretold, it was He who killed Kaá¹sa. One should know in truth how Kṛṣṇa, who takes His birth transcendentally, acts to kill the demons but is never killed. When one perfectly understands Kṛṣṇa in this way, through the medium of Å›Ästra, one becomes immortal. As the Lord says in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (4.9):

janma karma ca me divyam
 evaá¹ yo vetti tattvataḥ
tyaktvÄ dehaá¹ punar janma
 naiti mÄm eti so ’rjuna

“One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.â€