Devanagari
नन्दाद्या ये व्रजे गोपा याश्चामीषां च योषित:
वृष्णयो वसुदेवाद्या देवक्याद्या यदुस्त्रिय: ॥ ६२ ॥
सर्वे वै देवताप्राया उभयोरपि भारत
ज्ञातयो बन्धुसुहृदो ये च कंसमनुव्रता: ॥ ६३ ॥
Verse text
nandādyā ye vraje gopā
yāś cāmīṣāṁ ca yoṣitaḥ
vṛṣṇayo vasudevādyā
devaky-ādyā yadu-striyaḥ
sarve vai devatā-prāyā
ubhayor api bhārata
jṣātayo bandhu-suhṛdo
ye ca kaṁsam anuvratāḥ
Synonyms
nanda
—
ādyāḥ — beginning from Nanda Mahārāja
;
ye
—
all of which persons
;
vraje
—
in Vṛndāvana
;
gopāḥ
—
the cowherd men
;
yāḥ
—
which
;
ca
—
and
;
amīṣām
—
of all those (inhabitants of Vṛndāvana)
;
ca
—
as well as
;
yoṣitaḥ
—
the women
;
vṛṣṇayaḥ
—
members of the Vṛṣṇi family
;
vasudeva
—
ādyāḥ — headed by Vasudeva
;
devakī
—
ādyāḥ — headed by Devakī
;
yadu
—
striyaḥ — all the women of the Yadu dynasty
;
sarve
—
all of them
;
vai
—
indeed
;
devatā
—
prāyāḥ — were inhabitants of heaven
;
ubhayoḥ
—
of both Nanda Mahārāja and Vasudeva
;
api
—
indeed
;
bhārata
—
O Mahārāja Parīkṣit
;
jṣātayaḥ
—
the relatives
;
bandhu
—
friends
;
suhṛdaḥ
—
well-wishers
;
ye
—
all of whom
;
ca
—
and
;
kaṁsam anuvratāḥ
—
even though apparently followers of Kaṁsa .
Translation
The inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, headed by Nanda Mahārāja and including his associate cowherd men and their wives, were none but denizens of the heavenly planets, O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, best of the descendants of Bharata, and so too were the descendants of the Vṛṣṇi dynasty, headed by Vasudeva and Devakī and the other women of the dynasty of Yadu. The friends, relatives and well-wishers of both Nanda Mahārāja and Vasudeva and even those who externally appeared to be followers of Kaṁsa were all demigods.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, headed by Nanda Mahārāja and including his associate cowherd men and their wives, were none but denizens of the heavenly planets, O Mahārāja Parīkṣit, best of the descendants of Bharata, and so too were the descendants of the Vṛṣṇi dynasty, headed by Vasudeva, and Devakī and the other women of the dynasty of Yadu. The friends, relatives and well-wishers of both Nanda Mahārāja and Vasudeva and even those who externally appeared to be followers of Kaṁsa were all demigods.
KB 10.1.62-64
At that time the great sage Nārada came to Kaṁsa. He was informed of Kaṁsa’s becoming compassionate to Vasudeva and returning his firstborn child. Nārada was very eager to accelerate the descent of Lord Kṛṣṇa as soon as possible. He therefore informed Kaṁsa that in Vṛndāvana personalities like Nanda Mahārāja and all the other cowherd men and their wives, and on the other side Vasudeva, his father Śūrasena and all his relatives born in the family of Vṛṣṇi of the Yadu dynasty, along with all their friends and well-wishers, were actually demigods. Nārada warned Kaṁsa to be careful of them, since Kaṁsa and his friends and advisors were all demons. Demons are always afraid of demigods.
Purport
As previously discussed, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, informed Lord Brahmā that Lord Kṛṣṇa would personally descend to mitigate the suffering on the earth. The Lord ordered all the denizens of the heavenly planets to take birth in different families of the Yadu and Vṛṣṇi dynasties and in Vṛndāvana. Now this verse informs us that all the family and friends of the Yadu dynasty, the Vṛṣṇi dynasty, Nanda Mahārāja and the
gopas
descended from the heavenly planets to see the pastimes of the Lord. As confirmed in
Bhagavad-gītā
(4.8)
, the Lord’s pastimes consist of
paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
— saving the devotees and killing the demons. To demonstrate these activities, the Lord called for devotees from different parts of the universe.
There are many devotees who are elevated to the higher planetary systems.
prāpya puṇya-kṛtāṁ lokān
uṣitvā śāśvatīḥ samāḥ
śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe
yoga-bhraṣṭo ’bhijāyate
“The unsuccessful
yogī,
after many, many years of enjoyment on the planets of the pious living entities, is born into a family of righteous people, or into a family of rich aristocracy.” (
Bg. 6.41
) Some devotees, having failed to complete the process of devotional service, are promoted to the heavenly planets, to which the pious are elevated, and after enjoying there they may be directly promoted to the place where the Lord’s pastimes are going on. When Lord Kṛṣṇa was to appear, the denizens of the heavenly planets were invited to see the pastimes of the Lord, and thus it is stated here that the members of the Yadu and Vṛṣṇi dynasties and the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana were demigods or almost as good as demigods. Even those who externally helped the activities of Kaṁsa belonged to the higher planetary systems. The imprisonment and release of Vasudeva and the killing of various demons were all manifestations of the pastimes of the Lord, and because the devotees would be pleased to see these activities personally, they were all invited to take birth as friends and relatives of these families. As confirmed in the prayers of Kuntī (
Bhāg.
1.8.19
),
nato nāṭya-dharo yathā.
The Lord was to play the part of a demon-killer, and a friend, son and brother to His devotees, and thus these devotees were all summoned.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
These verses are spoken by Sukadeva, or they can be taken as the words of Narada to Kamsa. When Kamsa gave back the child to Devaki, Narada could see that the appearance of the Lord would be blocked. He therefore appeared at this time and spoke these words.
In order to derive personal joy by seeing his Lord, in order to give joy to the devatas by provoking Kamsa to violence against the devotees to cause the Lord to appear, in order accomplish the slaying of Kamsa for his violence to the devotees, in order to shower himself in the intense devotion of Vasudeva and Devaki and get their blessings by delivering to them a confirmation of the Lord's appearance, in order to increase their eagerness to see the Lord, and drown them in an ocean of bliss by cutting down their doubts of whether the Lord would really appear, in order to please Devaki and Vasudeva by making them blissful even in those circumstances of suffering, and in order to make Kamsa favorable to himself by presenting false friendship, Narada Muni came and spoke confidential words to Kamsa in these two verses.
Devata praya (most of the devatas) means that though the devatas were born in the Yadu family, some demons were also born among them. Kamsa is addressed as bharata because bha means desire in the mode of ignorance and rata means absorption. He was absorbed in enjoying in ignorance.
(If it is Sukadeva speaking, bharata refers to Pariksit)
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
All (ca) the cowherds living in Mahāvana and what to speak of (ca) their wives and even the servants as well as the Vṛṣṇis or Yādavas and others also were the Lord’s associates (devatā). Almost all of the Yadus were associates of the Lord, but not all, because some were demons. O descendant of Bharata, Parīkṣit! This is also true of your grandfather. The members of the Bhoja dynasty also, devoted to Kaṁsa, were associates of the Lord. Direct relatives (jñātayaḥ), those more indirectly related (bandhu) and friends (suhṛdaḥ) were also associates of the Lord. Thus, one should not hate Nārada for informing Kaṁsa.