pradÄya má¹›tyave putrÄn
mocaye ká¹›paṇÄm imÄm
sutÄ me yadi jÄyeran
má¹›tyur vÄ na mriyeta cet
viparyayo vÄ kiá¹ na syÄd
gatir dhÄtur duratyayÄ
upasthito nivarteta
nivá¹›ttaḥ punar Äpatet
pradÄya - promising to deliver; má¹›tyave - unto Kaá¹sa, who is death personified for DevakÄ«; putrÄn - my sons; mocaye - I am releasing her from imminent danger; ká¹›paṇÄm - innocent; imÄm - DevakÄ«; sutÄḥ - sons; me - my; yadi - whether; jÄyeran - should take birth; má¹›tyuḥ - Kaá¹sa; vÄ - or; na - not; mriyeta - should die; cet - if; viparyayaḥ - just the opposite; vÄ - or; kim - whether; na - not; syÄt - it may happen; gatiḥ - the movement; dhÄtuḥ - of providence; duratyayÄ - very difficult to understand; upasthitaḥ - that which is presently obtained; nivarteta - may stop; nivá¹›ttaḥ - DevakÄ«'s death being stopped; punaḥ Äpatet - in the future it may happen again (but what can I do).
Vasudeva considered: By delivering all my sons to Kaá¹sa, who is death personified, I shall save the life of DevakÄ«. Perhaps Kaá¹sa will die before my sons take birth, or, since he is already destined to die at the hands of my son, one of my sons may kill him. For the time being, let me promise to hand over my sons so that Kaá¹sa will give up this immediate threat, and if in due course of time Kaá¹sa dies, I shall have nothing to fear.
Vasudeva wanted to save the life of DevakÄ« by promising to deliver his sons to Kaá¹sa. “In the future,†he thought, “Kaá¹sa may die, or I may not beget any sons. Even if a son is born and I deliver him to Kaá¹sa, Kaá¹sa may die at his hands, for by providence anything could happen. It is very difficult to understand how things are managed by providence.†Thus Vasudeva decided that he would promise to deliver his sons to the hands of Kaá¹sa in order to save DevakÄ« from the imminent danger of death.
