SB 10.1.50 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

प्रदाय मृत्यवे पुत्रान् मोचये कृपणामिमाम् सुता मे यदि जायेरन् मृत्युर्वा न म्रियेत चेत् ॥ ४९ ॥ विपर्ययो वा किं न स्याद् गतिर्धातुर्दुरत्यया उपस्थितो निवर्तेत निवृत्त: पुनरापतेत् ॥ ५० ॥

Verse text

pradāya mṛtyave putrān mocaye kṛpaṇām imām sutā me yadi jāyeran mṛtyur vā na mriyeta cet viparyayo vā kiṁ na syād gatir dhātur duratyayā upasthito nivarteta nivṛttaḥ punar āpatet

Synonyms

pradāya — promising to deliver ; mṛtyave — unto Kaṁsa, who is death personified for Devakī ; putrān — my sons ; mocaye — I am releasing her from imminent danger ; kṛpaṇām — innocent ; imām — Devakī ; sutāḥ — sons ; me — my ; yadi — whether ; jāyeran — should take birth ; mṛtyuḥ — Kaṁsa ; vā — or ; na — not ; mriyeta — should die ; cet — if ; viparyayaḥ — just the opposite ; vā — or ; kim — whether ; na — not ; syāt — it may happen ; gatiḥ — the movement ; dhātuḥ — of providence ; duratyayā — very difficult to understand ; upasthitaḥ — that which is presently obtained ; nivarteta — may stop ; nivṛttaḥ — Devakī’s death being stopped ; punaḥ āpatet — in the future it may happen again (but what can I do) .

Translation

Vasudeva considered: By delivering all my sons to Kaṁsa, who is death personified, I shall save the life of Devakī. Perhaps Kaṁsa 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 Kaṁsa will give up this immediate threat, and if in due course of time Kaṁsa dies, I shall have nothing to fear.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Vasudeva considered: By delivering all my sons to Kaṁsa, who is death personified, I shall save the life of Devakī. Perhaps Kaṁsa 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 Kaṁsa will give up this immediate threat, and if in due course of time Kaṁsa dies, I shall have nothing to fear. KB 10.1.49-50 Vasudeva thought of his wife as follows: “For the present let me save the life of Devakī; then later on, if there are children, I shall see how to save them.” He further thought, “If in the future I get a child who can kill Kaṁsa—just as Kaṁsa is thinking—then both Devakī and the child will be saved because the law of Providence is inconceivable. But now, some way or other, let me save the life of Devakī.”

Purport

Vasudeva wanted to save the life of Devakī by promising to deliver his sons to Kaṁsa. “In the future,” he thought, “Kaṁsa may die, or I may not beget any sons. Even if a son is born and I deliver him to Kaṁsa, Kaṁsa 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 Kaṁsa in order to save Devakī from the imminent danger of death.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

"This is what I will do." Silently he speaks this verse. "I will give my sons to this personification of death, Kamsa." But then he thinks, "That is not proper." With this anxiety he speaks. "If I don’t have any sons there is no need to worry. And if I have sons and Kamsa has not died by then, it is certainly improper. But I must save Devaki now. And if Kamsa dies before that time, then there is no need to worry. Or the opposite many happen. If I give my sons to Kamsa, they may become strong and kill Kamsa. But how can infant sons kill strong Kamsa. The ways of the Lord are hard to understand but he has said, "The eight child will kill Kamsa." Therefore it is better to save Devaki from Kamsa’s hands by promising to give the children to him, for Kamsa will also die."

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

These verses show his decision. Here “sons” indicates all except the eighth son, since by the time the eighth son was born, Vasudeva would have gained power by then. Promising to give the sons to Kaṁsa, who is identical to death, they would immediately die. He could not tolerate her immediate condition of suffering (kṛpaṇām). He thought of arguments to reinforce his position, as if fixing a pillar firmly in the ground (sthūṇā-nikhanana-nyāya). Then he began to consider another worry. Maybe the prediction from the sky was deceptive. If my sons are born and Kaṁsa is not killed (he doubts the prediction), calamity will perhaps take place. Mārkaṇḍeya, Ajāmila and Satyavrata avoided approaching death. On the other hand, Kuśa, Namuci and Hiraṇyakaśipu prevented death, but it came anyway. The will of the Lord is hard to understand. Śrīdhara Svāmī explains these verses differently. The two verses are explained together. Maybe my sons will live and maybe Kaṁsa will die somehow. Then there will perhaps be no calamity. By giving the sons to Kaṁsa (death), I will free Devakī. The word vā indicates alternatives. There is another meaning. If my sons are born and Kaṁsa does not die there is nothing wrong. And if my sons are born and Kaṁsa somehow dies, there is nothing wrong. If my sons are born and Kaṁsa does not die, cannot my son still kill him? The simplest interpretation is as follows: if my sons are born and Kaṁsa is still alive, then I will give them to him and save Devakī. Then calamity will perhaps not take place.