Lord Krishna’s Appearance on Earth From Sri Brahma Vaivartha Purana (Chapter-7)
(It is auspicious to read this post on Krishna Jayanthi/ Janmashtami day. The procedure of fasting and worship for Janmashtami can be read in THIS POST and THIS POST. Hope these posts help you to observe the festivals properly.)
(1) Sri Narada said: O glorious one, please describe Lord Krsna’s glorious and sacred birth. This description frees the hearer from birth, death and old-age.
(2) Whose son was Vasudeva? Whose daughter was Devaki? Who were Vasudeva and Devaki? Please describe their marriage.
(3) Why did cruel Kamsa kill their six sons? On what day was Lord Krsna born? I wish to hear this. Please describe it.
(4) Sri Narayana Rsi said: Vasudeva was Kasyapa Muni in his previous birth,and Devaki was Aditi, the mother of the demigods. As a result of their previous deeds they attained Lord Krsna as their son.
(5)Vasudeva was born from King Devamidha in the womb of Marisa. At the moment of his birth jubilant demigods sounded anaka and dundubhi drums. For this reason the elder saintly devotees gave Lord Krsna’s father the name Anakadundubhi.
(6) Devaka, a king in the Yadu dynasty, was the son of King Ahuka. Devakahas a son, Jnanasindhu, and a daughter, Devaki.
(8) Carefully following the rules of scripture, Garga Muni, the guru of the Yadu dynasty, performed the wedding ceremony of Vasudeva and Devaki.
(9) There was a great reception for Vasudeva. At an auspicious moment King Devaka gave Devaki in marriage to Vasudeva.
(10) O Narada, King Devaka then gave a dowry of a thousand horses and golden cups, a hundred beautiful and opulently decorated maidservants,…
(11)…many different kinds of gifts, many different kinds of jewels, many diamonds, which are the king of jewels, and many jewel cups.
(12-14) Then Vasudeva took his bride, who was splendid as a hundred moons,decorated with splendid jewels, noble, glorious, able to enchant the three worlds, the best of women, a treasury of beauty, a treasury of virtue, smiling with crooked eyes, in full bloom of youth, and a perfect bride, placed her in his chariot and began to depart. Kamsa, who was filled with joy on the occasion of his sister’s marriage, accompanied them.
(15) As Kamsa approached the chariot, a disembodied voice spoke from the sky.
(16) The voice said: Why are you so happy, the king of kings? Hear these truthful words meant for your welfare. Devaki’s eight son will kill you.
(17) Hearing this, powerful and sinful Kamsa, frightened by the oracle and filled with anger, grasped a sword in his hand and was about to kill Devaki.
(18) Seeing Kamsa about to kill Devaki, intelligent Vasudeva, who was learned in the scriptures of ethics, spoke.
(19) Sri Vasudeva said: You don’t know how a king should act. Please hear my auspicious words, which are perfectly appropriate, which are spoken by scripture, and which bring fame and destroy sin.
(20) O king, if her eighth son will be your death, and you kill her instead of him, your reputation will be destroyed and you will go to hell.
(21) If somehow he kills a ferocious beast that is attacking him, a wise man gives in charity coins equal to one karsapana. In this way, at the moment of his death, he is released from the sin of killing the beast.
(22) In he kills an animal that is not attacking him, then, in order at the time of his death to be released from the sin, a wise man should perform an atonement a hundred times greater than the previous one. This is said by the demigod Brahma.
(23) If without provocation he kills a higher animal, such as a goat, then the sin is a hundred times greater. Manu has said this.
(24-26) If he kills a human being that is a mleccha, the sin is a hundred times grater than killing a higher animal. If he kills a pious sudra, the sin is a hundred times greater than killing a mleccha. If he kills a cow the sin is a hundred times greater than killing a pious sudra. If he kills a brahmana the sin is ten time greater than killing a cow.
(27) By killing a woman one commits a sin equal to killing a brahmana.
(28) O king, if one kills his own sister, who has taken shelter of him and deserves to be protected by him, he commits a sin a hundred times greater than killing a woman.
(29) A person performs austerities, chants mantras, performs worship, sees holy places, feeds brahmanas, and performs yajnas in order that he may go to Svargaloka.
(30) The saintly devotees see that this fearful material life is temporary like a dream or like bubbles in water. Therefore they always follow the principles of religion.
(31) O saintly one, let your sister go. How many wise men are there? Ask them what you should do.
(32) Friend, I will give you my eighth son. Why must I have an eighth son?
(33) Or I will give you all my children. O best of the wise, none of them would be very dear to me.
(34) O king of kings, let your sister go. She is like your own daughter. You, yourself reared her, every day giving her delicious foods to eat.
(35) Hearing Vasudeva’s words, King Kamsa released his sister. Then Vasudeva took his bride to their palace.
(36) O Narada, in the course of time six sons were born. Vasudeva gave each one to Kamsa, and Kamsa killed them all, one by one.
(37) When Devaki was pregnant the seventh time, frightened Kamsa posted guards at her door. Then goddess Yogamaya protected the unborn child, pulling it out of Devaki’s womb and placing it in Rohini’s womb.
(38) The guards said there was a miscarriage. Because the seventh child, who was the Personality of Godhead Himself, was pulled (sankarsana) from the womb, He was called Sankarsana.
(39) Then Devaki became pregnant for an eight time. This time there was no child in her womb. It was filled with air.
(40) When the ninth month passed and the tenth came, Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead who sees everything, glanced at Devaki’s womb.
(41) As a result of the Lord’s glance, Devaki, who was naturally the most beautiful of all women, suddenly became four times more beautiful.
(42) Kamsa noticed that Devaki, her eyes and face blossoming with happiness,filled the ten directions with her splendor like the goddess Yogamaya.
(43) She was splendid like all the stars together. Kamsa, the king of demons, gazed at her and became filled with wonder.
(44) Kamsa said, “From this pregnancy will come the child that is the seed of my death.” Then he posted guards at the seven gates to guard Devaki and Vasudeva with great care.
(45) O Narada, when the tenth month came Devaki’s pregnancy was complete. Numb and stunned, she began to tremble.
(46) When Devaki’s womb was thus filled with air, Lord Krsna, the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, entered the lotus of her heart.
(47) When the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who maintains all the universes entered her womb, Devaki became stunned and filled with pain as she stayed in the confines of her palace.
(48) Devaki became restless. One moment she would sit down, the next moment she would stand up, the next moment she would pace back and forth, and the next moment she would sleep.
(49) Observing Devaki, and aware that the time of giving birth had come, noble-hearted Vasudeva meditated on Lord Krsna.
(50) In the beautiful palace lit with jewel lamps Vasudeva reverently placed a sword, iron, water, fire,…
(51)…a person learned in chanting mantras, a learned brahmana, his relatives and their frightened wives.
(52) When two hours of night had passed, the sky became filled with clouds and lightning.
(53) Great winds blew. The eight guards fell asleep. In their sleep they became motionless and unconscious as if dead.
(54) Then the demigods Brahma, Siva, and Yamaraja came and offered prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead in Devaki’s womb.
(55) The demigods said: You are the origin of the universes, but You have no origin. You are limitless, immutable, effulgent, sinless, and supremely exalted. You have no material qualities, for Your qualities are all spiritual. You are beyond the three modes of material nature.
(56) Out of love for them You show Your transcendental form to the devotees. Your form is not material. You are independent. Your every desire is automatically fulfilled. You are the master of all. You are everything. You are the shelter of all transcendental qualities.
(57) You are the origin of happiness and distress. You are the origin of all. You put an end to the demons. You are perfect. You are the shelter of everything. You are always fearless and free from any distress.
(58) You are not material. You are not touched by matter. Your actions are not material. Your desires are all fulfilled. You are self-satisfied. You are eternal and free from any imperfection.
(59) You are gentle, ferocious, difficult to please, unattainable, the author of the Vedas, the Vedas, the Vedangas, the knower of the Vedas, and the all-powerful Lord.
(60) After speaking these words the demigods bowed down again and again. Tears of joy in their eyes, they showered flowers on the Lord.
(61) A person who rises early and chants these forty-two names attains firm devotion for Lord Krsna. His desire to serve the Lord is fulfilled.
(62) Sri Narayana Rsi said: After speaking these prayers, the demigods returned to their own abode. Then a great rain suddenly fell and no one moved about in Mathura City.
(63) O sage, a terrible darkness covered the night. Seven muhurtas passed and the eighth muhurta came. Note: One muhurta equals forty-eight minutes.
(64) Then, at the most auspicious moments, a moment even the Vedas cannot properly glorify, a moment beyond all understanding, a moment when all auspicious planets were visible on the horizon and no inauspicious planets could be seen,…
(65) …a moment on the eighth tithi, O sage, when a half-moon had risen with the star Rohini and the auspicious Jayanti-yoga was present,…
(66) …at that moment the sun and the other planets both auspicious and inauspicious, gazed again and again at the horizon, became filled with awe, left their regular places and met in the sign Pisces.
(67) Staying there, all the planets became auspicious. In this way, by the demigod Brahma’s order, all the planets happily stayed in the eleventh house for one muhurta.
(68) Then the clouds rained, pleasantly cool winds blew, the earth became happy, and the ten directions became filled with joy.
(69) Filled with joy, the sages, manus, yaksas, gandharvas, kinnaras, apsaras, demigods, and demigoddesses danced.
(70) O Narada, the gandharva kings and the vidyadharis sang, the rivers happily flowed and the fires happily blazed.
(71) In Svargaloka there was beautiful music of dundubhi and anaka drums. There was a great shower of parijata flowers.
(72) The earth-goddess assumed the form of a human woman and visited Devaki’s maternity-room, there were loud sounds of conchshells and the sounds of ‘Victory!’ and ‘Hari!’
(73) Then saintly Devaki fell to the ground and the air suddenly passed from her belly.
(74) Then Lord Krsna, the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, left the lotus-whorl of Devaki’s heart and manifested His transcendental form before her.
(75-80) O sage, then Vasudeva and Devaki saw before them the supremely handsome and charming Supreme Personality of Godhead, who had two arms, a flute in His hand, glittering shark-earrings, a gentle smile, great mercy for His devotees, ornaments of the kings of jewels, a form dark like a monsoon cloud, yellow garments, limbs anointed with sandal, aguru, musk and kunkuma, an autumn moon face, handsome bimba fruit lips, a peacock feather crown, a splendid jewel-crown, a threefold bending form, and a forest garland, who had the mark of Srivatsa on His chest, who was youthful, peaceful and handsome, and who was the Lord of both Brahma and Siva.
(81) His hands respectfully folded, his neck bent with devotion, tears in his eyes and the hairs of his body erect, the Supreme Personality of Godhead’s father, Vasudeva, filled with wonder, and his wife Devaki by his side, offered prayers to the Lord.
(82-86) Sri Vasudeva said: O almighty one, how can I properly glorify You, who are beyond the material senses, not manifest in the material world, imperishable, beyond the modes of nature, all-powerful, not attainable by meditation, the Supersoul present in everyone’s heart, the supreme controller whose every desire is at once fulfilled, the Lord who assumes any form at will, the Supreme Spirit, untouched by matter, the seed of all existence, eternal, bigger than the biggest, smaller than the smallest, the most subtle, all-pervading, invisible, the witness present in all bodies, the Lord who has a transcendental form with a host of transcendental qualities, the Lord who has no material form, the material world, the master of the material world, beyond the material world, the master of all, present in all forms, the death that puts an end to all that is material, deathless, immutable, the resting place on which all depends, depends on no one, and the supreme perfect one?
(87) Lord Sesa is not able to glorify You properly. Goddess Sarasvati is not able. Lord Siva is not able. Karttikeya is not able.
(88) Lord Brahma, the author of the Vedas is not able to glorify You properly. Ganesa is not able. The guru of the guru of the kings of the yogis is not able.
(89) The great sages, demigods, manus, and human beings cannot see You, even in their dreams. How can they glorify You properly?
(90) Even the personified Vedas cannot glorify You properly. How can the scholars of this world glorify You? O Lord, please leave this present form and now become a small boy.
(91) A person who at sunrise, noon, and sunset recites these prayers of King Vasudeva attains devotional service for the lotus feet of Lord Krsna.
(92) He attains a noble and virtuous son devoted to serving Lord Krsna. He quickly passes through all dangers. He is delivered from the fears of his enemies.
(93) Sri Narayana Rsi said: After hearing Vasudeva’s words, handsome and glorious Lord Krsna, overcome with feelings of kindness for His devotee, and His face beaming with happiness, spoke to him.
(94) Sri Krsna said: Because of your great austerities I have now become your son. Please ask for a boon. Your future will be auspicious. Of this there is no doubt.
(95) Formerly you were the prajapati Sutapa, the best of ascetics. You and your austere wife worshiped Me with great austerities.
(96) When you saw Me you asked for the boon of having a son like Me. I gave you the boon of having a son like Me.
(97) After giving you that boon I thought, “In the whole world there is no one like Me.” For that reason I have now become your son.
(98) By the power of your austerities you were the great sage Kasyapa and your wife was chaste Aditi, the mother of the demigods.
(99) You are Kasyapa, now appearing as My f father Vasudeva, Your wife is Aditi, the mother of the demigods, who is now Devaki.
(100) As a partial incarnation, I appeared as Vamana and became the son of You and Aditi. Now, by the power of your austerities, I have appeared in My original form.
(101) Thinking of Me either as your son or as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, you will attain Me. O wise one, you will be liberated even in this life.
(102) O father, take me at once to Yasoda’s home in Vraja. Leave Me there and put Goddess Maya in My place.
(103) After speaking these words, Lord Krsna assumed the form of a newborn infant. Vasudeva gazed at his sleeping, dark, infant son, on the ground before him.
(104-5) Vasudeva said, “What happened when I looked at this child? Was I bewildered by Lord Visnu’s illusory potency? Did I, overcome with exhaustion, see a dream in this maternity room?” Vasudeva and his wife gazed at the infant in their lap. Then Vasudeva took the infant to Nanda’s Gokula.
(106) Vasudeva quickly went to Nanda’s Vraja, entered the maternity room there, and saw that Yasoda was asleep on her bed, Nanda was asleep, and everyone in the house was also asleep.
(107) He saw a gently smiling infant girl, naked and gazing at the housetop.
(108) When he saw the infant girl, Vasudeva became filled with wonder.
(109) Taking the girl with him, and leaving his son in her place, he quickly returned to his wife’s maternity room in Mathura.
(110) There he placed the infant girl, who was the goddess Maha-maya. When she saw the girl cry again and again, Devaki became afraid.
(111) Crying, the infant girl awakened the guards, who quickly came and took her away.
(112) As they took the child to Kamsa, grieving Vasudeva and Devaki followed them.
(113) O great sage, when he saw the beautiful infant girl crying again and again, Kamsa was not at all pleased. He did not feel any mercy for her.
(114) Grabbing the infant, cruel Kamsa was about to throw her against the stone and kill her, when Vasudeva and Devaki very respectfully addressed him.
(115) They said: O Kamsa, O best of kings, O philosopher wise in the science of morality, Please hear our beautiful, true, and righteous words.
(116-7) O kinsman, you killed our six sons. You had no mercy on them. If you kill our eighth child, who is a weak girl, how will your power and glory triumph on the face of the earth? How can a weak girl attack and kill you in battle?
(118) After speaking these words Vasudeva and Devaki openly wept before wicked Kamsa and his assembly.
(119) After hearing their words, cruel Kamsa said to them, “Listen to my words. Try to understand and I will explain.
(120) Kamsa said: Destiny can kill a mountain with a blade of grass, a lion or a tiger with a tiny worm, an elephant with a mosquito,…
(121)…a great warrior with a child, an enormous animal with tiny creatures, a cat with a mouse, a snake with a frog,…
(122)…a father with his son, an eater with his food, water with fire, and a fire with hay.
(123) A single brahmana once drank the seven seas. In the seven worlds the wonderful workings of destiny are beyond our understanding.
(124) By destiny a girl will be able to kill me. Therefore, I will not kill this girl. Here I will not think whether the time is right.
(125) After speaking these words, Kamsa grabbed the infant girl and was about to kill her, when Vasudeva spoke.
(126) He said, “O King, you will kill this girl for no reason. O ocean of kindness, please give her to me.” O great sage, when he heard these words, intelligent Kamsa became a little pacified.
(127) Then a disembodied voice said, “Fool Kamsa, who is this girl you would kill? You do not understand how destiny works.
(128) “Your killer is somewhere else. In time He will reveal Himself.” Hearing the words of destiny, King Kamsa released the infant girl.
(129) Taking the girl with them, Vasudeva and Devaki returned to their own home. They pressed her to their heart and accepted her as their own daughter.
(130) As if they had recovered their daughter from the grip of death, they gave charity to the brahmanas. O brahmana, that girl, who was named Ekanamsa, was a partial incarnation of Goddess Parvati. She was the exalted sister of Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
(131) At the time of Rukmini’s marriage in Dvaraka, with great devotion Vasudeva gave her in marriage to Durvasa Muni, who was a partial incarnation of Lord Siva.
(132) O sage, now I have told you everything of Lord Krsna’s birth. This narration brings happiness and piety. It rescues one from the world of birth, old-age and death.