Sankarshanaya namah

While reading the chapter many mistakenly believe that Kamsa was regretting his misdeeds. When in reality it was far from true. Deep within he now feared Krishna since Yogamaya had predicted the birth of his killer. He was now no longer scared of Devaki and Vasudeva. Although he preached a lot of spiritual philosophy, it was limited only to speech. His actions as well as his thought process continued to be as wicked as before. He was a wicked demon who was shedding crocodile tears.

Previously we have heard stories of Ravana and Hiranyakaśipu who too preached Vedanta while continuing their atrocities. Had they undergone any transformation? Never. Wicked people only externally appear to have changed. They are akin to chameleons who change according to the situation on hand. They endlessly preach Vedanta. Merely because they preach Vedanta they cannot be classified as noble.

“Mother Devaki, who saw her brother deeply regretting his earlier sins, felt sorry for him. Her heart melted completely. Due to her love for her brother she too shed tears. Believing that he was truly repentant and was showering sisterly love upon her, the gentle-hearted lady instantly forgave her brother, who had mercilessly killed her sons and daughter!”

Innocent Devaki could not understand that he was shedding crocodile tears. Aha! What a compassionate heart she had! Carried away by his tears, she discarded all anger towards him.

“Vasudeva could figure out what had happened. Nevertheless, he smiled and said to Kamsa, ‘O great person! Whatever you have spoken is absolutely true. Due to spiritual ignorance, living entities are filled with feelings of duality such as, “he belongs to me”, “this is mine’, ‘that person does not belong to me’ or ‘that object does not belong to me’.

People who have feelings of duality are filled with sorrows, joys, aversion, greed, infatuation and pride. At such time, the Supreme Lord, uses a living entity as a cause to eliminate another living entity. Foolish people are ignorant of this truth’. Without any feelings of bitterness and deceit, Vasudeva replied to Kamsa”.

Swamiji explains: Devaki and Vasudeva were pure, noble persons in whom, even the slightest traits of deceit were absent. Hence through their words they implied, ‘Ok, we have forgiven you for everything. After all, you have freed us from imprisonment. You have accepted your mistakes. You have explained to us Vedanta. You have obtained realization. Don’t worry.’ Noble persons do not understand dishonesty. They easily forgave Kamsa and re-assured him.

Maharishi Śuka continued, “Kamsa then took leave from them and returned to his palace. After that night had passed, Kamsa called his ministers and informed them of the message given to him by Yogamaya and began to discuss the future course of action. As it is, the sight of Devatas was intolerable to Kamsa. The demonic sons of Diti, who are averse to Devatas, are dull-witted. Now these ministers, who had absolute hatred towards Devatas, were unduly angered when they heard Yogamaya’s message. They addressed Kamsa and said,

“O King, we do not have any idea where the infant resides. It is therefore advisable to search for new-born babies in all villages, towns, cities, in all cowherd-settlements as well as in other settlements. Let us kill all infants who are less than ten days of age or slightly more. O King, do not worry. Devatas dread war. The sound of your bowstring instills fear in them”.

Narayana Narayana