vasudeva bhavÄn nÅ«naá¹
bhaktyÄ paramayÄ harim
jagatÄm Ä«Å›varaá¹ prÄrcaḥ
sa yad vÄá¹ putratÄá¹ gataḥ
vasudeva - O Vasudeva; bhavÄn - your good self; nÅ«nam - doubtlessly; bhaktyÄ - with devotion; paramayÄ - supreme; harim - Lord Kṛṣṇa; jagatÄm - of all the worlds; Ä«Å›varam - the supreme controller; prÄrcaḥ - have worshiped thoroughly; saḥ - He; yat - inasmuch; vÄm - of both of you (Vasudeva and DevakÄ«); putratÄm - the role of son; gataḥ - has taken on.
O Vasudeva, without doubt you must have previously worshiped Lord Hari, the master of all worlds. Both you and your wife must have perfectly worshiped Him with supreme devotion, since He has accepted the role of your son.
ÅšrÄ«la ViÅ›vanÄtha CakravartÄ« paraphrases the sages’ mood as follows: “We have answered you, who questioned us in the manner of ordinary discourse, in the same ordinary way. In truth, however, since you are the eternally liberated father of the Supreme Lord, neither worldly customs nor the injunctions of scripture have any authority over you.â€
According to ÅšrÄ«la ViÅ›vanÄtha CakravartÄ«, the very name Vasudeva indicates that Vasudeva manifests brilliantly (dÄ«vyati) the superexcellent wealth (vasu) of pure devotional service. In the Eleventh Canto NÄrada will again meet with Vasudeva and at that time remind him,
devará¹£i-bhÅ«tÄpta-nṛṇÄá¹ pitá¹á¹‡Äá¹
na kiá¹…karo nÄyam ṛṇī ca rÄjan
sarvÄtmanÄ yaḥ Å›araṇaá¹ Å›araṇyaá¹
gato mukundaá¹ parihá¹›tya kartam
“O King, one who has given up all material duties and has taken full shelter of the lotus feet of Mukunda, who offers shelter to all, is not indebted to the demigods, great sages, ordinary living beings, relatives, friends, mankind or even his forefathers who have passed away. Since all such classes of living entities are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, one who has surrendered to the Lord’s service has no need to serve such persons separately.†(BhÄg. 11.5.41)
