KB 3 – The Birth of Lord Kṛṣṇa

Vraja Sundari
By Vraja Sundari 3.9k Views Add a Comment 31 Min Read

Having spoken thus to His father and mother, the Lord turned Himself into an ordinary child in their presence and remained silent.

Being ordered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva prepared to take his son from the delivery room, and exactly at that time, a daughter was born to Nanda and Yaśodā. She was Yogamāyā, the internal potency of the Lord. By the influence of this internal potency, Yogamāyā, all the residents of Kaṁsa’s palace, especially the doorkeepers, were overwhelmed with deep sleep, and all the palace doors opened, although they were barred and shackled with iron chains. The night was very dark, but as soon as Vasudeva took Kṛṣṇa on his lap and went out, he could see everything just as in the sunlight.

In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that Kṛṣṇa is just like sunlight and that wherever there is Kṛṣṇa, the illusory energy, which is compared to darkness, cannot remain. When Vasudeva was carrying Kṛṣṇa, the darkness of the night disappeared. All the prison doors automatically opened. At the same time there was thunder in the sky and severe rainfall. While Vasudeva was carrying his son Kṛṣṇa in the falling rain, Lord Śeṣa in the shape of a serpent spread His hood over the head of Vasudeva so that he would not be hampered by the rainfall. Vasudeva came onto the bank of the Yamunā and saw that the water of the Yamunā was roaring with waves and that the whole span was full of foam. Still, in that furious feature, the river gave passage to Vasudeva to cross, just as the great Indian Ocean gave a path to Lord Rāma when He was bridging over the gulf. In this way Vasudeva crossed the river Yamunā. On the other side, he went to the place of Nanda Mahārāja, situated in Gokula, where he saw that all the cowherd men were fast asleep. He took the opportunity to silently enter the house of Yaśodā, and without difficulty he exchanged his son for the baby girl newly born there. Then, after entering the house very silently and exchanging the boy for the girl, he returned to the prison of Kaṁsa and silently put the girl on the lap of Devakī. He again clamped the shackles on himself so that Kaṁsa could not recognize that so many things had happened.

Mother Yaśodā understood that a child had been born to her, but because she was very tired from the labor of childbirth, she fell fast asleep. When she awoke, she could not remember whether she had given birth to a male or a female child.

Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Third Chapter of Kṛṣṇa, “The Birth of Lord Kṛṣṇa.”

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Vraja Sundari Sewjugath has been a practitioner of Bhakti Yoga since 2012. She is an Editor at The Vaisnava Online Magazine, regularly engages in devotional service and is well known for her narrations on the Hare Krishna Community Radio. Formerly from South Africa, she has graduated with honours in Biochemistry and is a Math and Science educator in New Zealand. Her love for dance and artistic talents engage her in exploring new avenues to encourage the youth in Krishna Consciousness. She is open and enjoys sharing her knowledge and love for Radha Shyamasundara and her experiences with everyone she meets.
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