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KB 1970-1-43 / The Killing of Kamsa
43 / The Killing of Kamsa
After Kamsa's wrestlers expressed their determination, the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, the killer of Madhu, confronted
Canura, and Lord Balarama, the son of Rohini, confronted
Mustika. Krsna and Canura and then Balarama and Mustika locked
themselves hand to hand, leg to leg, and each began to press
against the other with a view to come out victorious. They
joined palm to palm, calf to calf, head to head, chest to chest
and began to strike each other. The fighting increased as they
pushed one other from one place to another. One captured
another and threw him down on the ground, and another
rushed from the back to the front of another and tried to
overcome him with a hold. The fighting increased step by step.
There was picking up, the dragging and pushing, and then the
legs and hands were locked together. All the arts of wrestling
were perfectly exhibited by the parties, as each tried his best
to defeat his opponent.
But the audience in the wrestling arena was not very
satisfied because the combatants did not appear to be equally
matched. They considered Krsna and Balarama to be mere boys
before the wrestlers Canura and Mustika, who were huge
men as solid as stone. Being compassionate and
favoring Krsna and Balarama, many members of the audience
began to talk as follows. "Dear friends, there is danger
here." Another said, "Even in front of the King this wrestling
is going on between incompatible sides." The audience had lost
their sense of enjoyment. They could not encourage the fighting
between the strong and the weak. "Mustika and Canura are just
like thunderbolts, as strong as great mountains, and Krsna and
Balarama are two delicate boys of very tender age. The
principle of justice has already left this assembly. Persons
who are aware of the civilized principles of justice will not
remain to watch this unfair match. Those taking part in
this wrestling match are not very much enlightened;
therefore whether they speak or remain silent, they are being
subjected to the reactions of sinful activities." "But my dear
friends," another in the assembly spoke out, "just look at the
face of Krsna. There are drops of perspiration on His face from
chasing His enemy, and His face appears like the lotus flower
with drops of water. And do you see how the face of Lord
Balarama has turned especially beautiful? There is a reddish
hue on His white face because He is engaged in a strong
wrestling match with Mustika."
Ladies in the assembly also addressed one another, "Dear
friends, just imagine how fortunate the land of Vrndavana is
where the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself is present,
always decorated with flower garlands and engaged in tending
cows along with His brother, Lord Balarama. He is always
accompanied by His cowherd boy friends, and He plays His
transcendental flute. The residents of Vrndavana are fortunate
to be able to constantly see the lotus feet of Krsna and
Balarama, which are worshiped by great demigods like Lord Siva
and Brahma and the goddess of fortune. We cannot estimate how
many pious activities were executed by the damsels of
Vrajabhumi so that they were able to enjoy the Supreme
Personality of Godhead and look on the unparalleled beauty
of His transcendental body. The beauty of the Lord is beyond
compare. No one is higher or equal to Him in beauty of
complexion or bodily luster. Krsna and Balarama are the
reservoir of all kinds of opulence -- namely wealth, strength,
beauty, fame, knowledge and renunciation. The gopis are so
fortunate that they can see and think of Krsna twenty-four
hours a day, beginning from their milking the cows or husking
the paddy or churning the butter in the morning. While engaged
in cleaning their houses and washing their floors, they are
always absorbed in the thought of Krsna."
The gopis give a perfect example of how one can execute Krsna
consciousness even if he is in different types
of material engagement. By constantly being absorbed in the
thought of Krsna, one cannot be affected by the contamination
of material activities. The gopis are, therefore, perfectly
in trance, samadhi, the highest perfectional stage of mystic
power. In the Bhagavad-gita, it is confirmed that one who is
constantly thinking of Krsna is a first-class yogi among all
kinds of yogis. "My dear friends," one lady told another, "we
must accept the gopis' activities to be the
highest form of piety; otherwise, how could they have achieved
the opportunity of seeing Krsna both morning and evening
when He goes to the pasturing ground with His cows
and cowherd boy friends and returns in the evening? They
frequently see Him playing on His flute and smiling
very brilliantly."
When Lord Krsna, the Supersoul of every living being,
understood that the ladies in the assembly were anxious for Him,
He decided not to continue wrestling but to kill the wrestlers
immediately. The parents of Krsna and Balarama, namely Nanda
Maharaja, Yasoda, Vasudeva and Devaki, were also very anxious
because they did not know the unlimited strength of their
children. Lord Balarama was fighting with the wrestler Mustika
in the same way that Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
was fighting and wrestling with Canura. Lord Krsna appeared to
be cruel to Canura, and He immediately struck him thrice with
His fist. The great wrestler was jolted, to the astonishment of
the audience. Canura then took his last chance and attacked
Krsna, just as one hawk swoops upon another. Folding his two
hands, he began to strike the chest of Krsna, but Lord Krsna
was not even slightly disturbed, no more than an elephant that
is hit by a flower garland. Krsna quickly caught the two
hands of Canura and began to wheel him around, and simply by
this centrifugal action, Canura lost his life. Krsna then threw
him to the ground. Canura fell just like the flag of Indra, and
all his nicely decorated ornaments were scattered hither and
thither.
Mustika also struck Balarama, and Balarama returned the stroke
with great force. Mustika began to tremble, and blood and vomit
flowed from his mouth. Distressed, he gave up his vital force
and fell down just as a tree falls down in a hurricane. After
the two wrestlers were killed, a wrestler named Kuta came
forward. Lord Balarama immediately caught him in His left hand
and killed him nonchalantly. Another wrestler of the name Sala
came forward, and Krsna immediately kicked him and cracked his
head. Another wrestler named Tosala came forward
and was killed in the same way. Thus all the great wrestlers
were killed by Krsna and Balarama, and the remaining wrestlers
began to flee from the assembly out of fear for their lives.
All the cowherd boy friends of Krsna and Balarama
approached Them and congratulated Them with great pleasure.
While drums beat and they talked of the victory, the
leg bells on the feet of Krsna and Balarama tinkled.
All the people gathered there began to clap in great ecstasy,
and no one could estimate the bounds of their pleasure. The
brahmanas present began to praise Krsna and Balarama
ecstatically. Only Kamsa was morose; he neither clapped nor
offered benediction to Krsna. Kamsa resented the
drums' being beaten for Krsna's victory, and he was
very sorry that the wrestlers had been killed and had fled the
assembly. He therefore immediately ordered the drum playing to
stop and began to address his friends as follows: "I
order that these two sons of Vasudeva be immediately driven out
of Mathura. The cowherd boys who have come with Them should be
plundered and all their riches taken away. Nanda Maharaja
should immediately be arrested and killed for his cunning
behavior, and the rascal Vasudeva should also be killed
without delay. Also my father, Ugrasena, who has always
supported my enemies against my will, should be killed."
When Kamsa spoke in this way, Lord Krsna became very angry with
him, and within a second He jumped over the high guards of King
Kamsa. Kamsa was prepared for Krsna's attack, for he knew from
the beginning that He was to be the cause of his
death. He immediately unsheathed his sword and prepared to
answer the challenge of Krsna with sword and shield. As Kamsa
wielded his sword up and down, hither and thither, Lord Krsna,
the supreme powerful Lord, caught hold of him with great force.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the shelter of the
complete creation and from whose lotus navel the whole creation
is manifested, immediately knocked the crown from the head of
Kamsa and grabbed his long hair in His hand. He then dragged
Kamsa from his seat to the wrestling dais and threw him down.
Then Krsna at once straddled his chest and began to strike him
over and over again. Simply from the strokes of His fist,
Kamsa lost his vital force.
In order to assure His parents that Kamsa was dead, Lord Krsna
dragged him just as a lion drags an elephant after killing it.
On sight of this, there was a great roaring sound from all
sides, as some spectators expressed their jubilation and others
cried in lamentation. From the day Kamsa heard that he would
be killed by the eighth son of Devaki, he was always thinking
of Krsna
twenty-four hours a day without any stoppage -- even
while he was eating, while he was walking, while he was
breathing -- and naturally he got the blessing of liberation.
In the Bhagavad-gita it is stated, sada tad-bhava-bhavitah:
a person gets his next life according to the thoughts
in which he is always absorbed. Kamsa was thinking of Krsna
with His wheel, which means Narayana who holds a wheel,
conchshell, lotus flower and club.
According to the opinion of authorities, Kamsa attained sarupya-
mukti after death, that is to say he attained the same form as
Narayana (Visnu). On the Vaikuntha planets all the inhabitants
have the same bodily features as Narayana. After his death,
Kamsa attained liberation and was promoted to Vaikunthaloka.
From this instance we can understand that even a person who
thinks of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as an enemy gets
liberation and a place in a Vaikuntha planet, so what to speak
of the pure devotees who are always absorbed in favorable
thoughts of Krsna? Even an enemy who is killed by Krsna gets
liberation and is placed in the impersonal brahmajyoti.
Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is all good, anyone
thinking of Him, either as enemy or as friend, gets
liberation. But the liberation of the devotee and the
liberation of the enemy are not the same. The enemy generally
gets the liberation of sayujya, and sometimes he gets sarupya
liberation.
Kamsa had eight brothers, headed by Kanka. All of them were
younger than he, and when they learned that their elder brother
had been killed, they combined together and rushed towards
Krsna in great anger to kill Him. Kamsa and his brothers were
all Krsna's maternal uncles. They were all brothers of Krsna's
mother, Devaki. When Krsna killed Kamsa He killed His maternal
uncle, which is against the regulation of Vedic injunction.
Although Krsna is independent of all Vedic injunction, He
violates the Vedic injunction only in inevitable cases. Kamsa
could not be killed by anyone but Krsna; therefore Krsna was
obliged to kill him. As far as Kamsa's eight brothers were
concerned, Balarama took charge of killing them. Balarama's
mother, Rohini, although the wife of Vasudeva, was not the
sister of Kamsa; therefore Balarama took charge of killing all
of Kamsa's eight brothers. He immediately took up an available
weapon (most probably the elephant's tusk which He carried) and
killed the eight brothers one after another, just as a lion
kills a flock of deer. Krsna and Balarama thus verified the
statement that the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears
to give protection to the pious and to kill the impious
demons, who are always enemies of the demigods.
The demigods from the higher planetary systems began to
shower flowers, congratulating Krsna and Balarama. Among the
demigods were powerful personalities like Lord Brahma and
Siva, and all joined together in showing their jubilation over
Kamsa's death. There was beating of drums and showering of
flowers from the heavenly planets, and the wives of the
demigods began to dance in ecstasy.
The wives of Kamsa and his eight brothers became aggrieved on
account of their husbands' sudden deaths, and all
of them were striking their foreheads and shedding torrents
of tears. They were crying very loudly and embracing the
bodies of their husbands. The
wives of Kamsa and his brothers began to lament, addressing
the dead bodies: "Our dear husbands, you are so kind and are
the protectors of your dependents. Now, after your death, we
are also dead, along with your homes and children. We are no
longer looking very auspicious. On account of your death, the
auspicious functions which were to take place, such as the
sacrifice of the bow, have all been spoiled. Our dear husbands,
you treated persons ill who were faultless, and as a result you
have been killed. This is inevitable because a person who
torments an innocent person must be punished by the laws of
nature. We know that Lord Krsna is the Supreme Personality of
Godhead. He is the supreme master of everything and the supreme
enjoyer of everything, and therefore anyone who neglects His
authority can never be happy, and ultimately, as you have, he
meets death."
Since Krsna was kind and affectionate to His aunts, He began
to give them solace as far as was possible. The ritualistic
ceremonies after death were then conducted under the
personal supervision of Krsna because He happened to be the
nephew of all the dead princes. After finishing this business,
Krsna and Balarama immediately released Their father and mother,
Vasudeva and Devaki who had been imprisoned by Kamsa. Krsna
and Balarama fell at Their parents' feet and offered them
prayers. Vasudeva and Devaki had suffered so much trouble
because Krsna was their son; it was beause of Krsna that
Kamsa was always giving them trouble. Devaki and Vasudeva were
fully conscious of Krsna's exalted position as the Supreme
Personality of Godhead; therefore, although Krsna touched their
feet and offered obeisances and prayers to them, they did
not embrace Him, but simply stood up to hear the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. Although Krsna was born as their son,
Vasudeva and Devaki were always conscious of His position.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Forty-third Chapter
of Krsna, "The Killing of Kamsa."
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KB 44: The Killing of Kamsa
CHAPTER FORTY–FOUR
The Killing of Kamsa
After Kamsa's wrestlers expressed their determination, the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, the killer of Madhu, confronted
Canura, and Lord Balarama, the son of Rohini, confronted
Mustika. Krsna and Canura and then Balarama and Mustika locked
themselves hand to hand, leg to leg, and each began to press
against the other with a view to coming out victorious. They
joined palm to palm, calf to calf, head to head, chest to chest
and began to strike each other. The fighting increased as they
pushed each other from one place to another. One captured
the other and threw him down on the ground, and another
rushed from the back to the front of another and tried to
overcome him with a hold. The fighting increased step by step.
There was picking up, dragging and pushing, and then the
legs and hands were locked together. All the arts of wrestling
were perfectly exhibited by the parties as each tried his best
to defeat his opponent.
But the audience in the wrestling arena was not very much
satisfied because the combatants did not appear to be equally
matched. They considered Krsna and Balarama to be mere boys
before Canura and Mustika, who were the
strongest wrestlers, as solid as stone. Being compassionate and
favoring Krsna and Balarama, the many ladies in the audience
began to talk as follows: "Dear friends, there is injustice
here." Another said, "Even in front of the King this wrestling
is going on between incompatible sides." The ladies had lost
their sense of enjoyment. They could not encourage the fighting
between the strong and the weak. "Mustika and Canura are just
like thunderbolts, as strong as great mountains, and Krsna and
Balarama are two delicate boys of very tender age. The
principle of justice has already left this assembly. Persons
who are aware of the civilized principles of justice will not
remain to watch this unfair match. Those taking part in
watching this wrestling match are not very much enlightened;
therefore whether they speak or remain silent, they are being
subjected to the reactions of sinful activities
."
"But my dear friends," another lady in the assembly spoke out, "
just look at the face of Krsna. There are drops of perspiration
on His face from chasing His enemy, and His face appears like a
lotus flower with drops of water."
Another lady said, "Don't you see how the face of Lord Balarama
has turned especially beautiful? There is a reddish hue on His
white face because He is engaged in a strenuous wrestling match
with Mustika."
Another lady in the assembly addressed her friend, "Dear
friend, just imagine how fortunate is the land of Vrndavana,
where the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself is present,
always decorated with flower garlands and engaged in tending
cows along with His brother, Lord Balarama. He is always
accompanied by His cowherd boyfriends, and He plays His
transcendental flute. The residents of Vrndavana are fortunate
to be able to constantly see the lotus feet of Krsna and
Balarama, which are worshiped by great demigods like Lord Siva
and by the goddess of fortune. We cannot estimate how
many pious activities were executed by the damsels of
Vrajabhumi so that they were able to enjoy the Supreme
Personality of Godhead by looking upon the unparalleled beauty
of His transcendental body. The beauty of the Lord is beyond
compare. No one is higher than or equal to Him in beauty of
complexion or bodily luster. Krsna and Balarama are the
reservoir of all kinds of opulence -- namely wealth, strength,
beauty, fame, knowledge and renunciation. The gopis are so
fortunate that they can see and think of Krsna twenty-four
hours a day, beginning from their milking the cows or husking
the paddy or churning the butter in the morning. While engaged
in cleaning their houses and washing their floors, they are
always absorbed in thought of Krsna."
The gopis give a perfect example of how one can execute Krsna
consciousness even while performing various types
of material engagements. By constantly being absorbed in the
thought of Krsna, one cannot be affected by the contamination
of material activities. The gopis, therefore, are perfectly
in trance, samadhi, the highest perfectional stage of mystic
power. In the Bhagavad-gita, it is confirmed that one who is
constantly thinking of Krsna is a first-class yogi among all
kinds of yogis. "My dear friend," one lady told another, "we
must accept the activities of the gopis to be the
highest form of piety; otherwise, how could they have achieved
the opportunity of seeing Krsna both morning and evening -- in
the morning when He goes to the pasturing ground with His cows
and cowherd boyfriends, and in the evening when
He returns with them, playing on His flute and smiling
very brilliantly?"
When Lord Krsna, the Supersoul of every living being,
understood that the ladies in the assembly were anxious for Him,
He decided not to continue wrestling but to kill the wrestlers
immediately. The parents of Krsna and Balarama, namely Nanda
Maharaja, Yasoda, Vasudeva and Devaki, were also very anxious
because they did not know the unlimited strength of their
children. Lord Balarama was fighting with the wrestler Mustika
in the same way that Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
was fighting and wrestling with Canura. Lord Krsna appeared to
be cruel to Canura, and He immediately struck him thrice with
His fist. The great wrestler was jolted, to the astonishment of
the audience. Canura then took his last chance and attacked
Krsna, just as one hawk swoops upon another. Folding his two
hands, he began to strike the chest of Krsna, but Lord Krsna
was not even slightly disturbed, any more than an elephant
is when hit by a flower garland. Krsna quickly caught the two
hands of Canura and began to wheel him around, and simply by
this centrifugal action, Canura lost his life. Krsna then threw
him to the ground. Canura fell just like the flag of Indra, and
all his nicely fashioned ornaments were scattered hither and
thither.
Mustika also struck Balarama, and Balarama returned the stroke
with great force. Mustika began to tremble and vomit blood.
Distressed, he gave up his vital force and fell down just as a
tree falls down in a hurricane.
After
the two wrestlers were killed, a wrestler named Kuta came
forward. Lord Balarama immediately caught him in His left hand
and killed him nonchalantly. A wrestler of the name Sala
came forward, and Krsna immediately cracked his
head with a kick. A wrestler named Tosala came forward
and was killed in the same way. Thus all the great wrestlers
were killed by Krsna and Balarama, and the remaining wrestlers
fled from the assembly out of fear for their lives.
All the cowherd boyfriends of Krsna and Balarama
approached Them and congratulated Them with great pleasure.
While trumpets resounded and drums were beaten, the
leg bells on the feet of Krsna and Balarama tinkled.
All the people gathered there began to clap in great ecstasy,
and no one could estimate the bounds of their pleasure. The
brahmanas present began to praise Krsna and Balarama
ecstatically. Only Kamsa was morose; he neither clapped nor
offered benediction to Krsna. Kamsa resented that the trumpets
and drums should be played for Krsna's victory, and he was
very sorry that the wrestlers had been killed and had fled the
assembly. He therefore immediately ordered the band to
stop playing and addressed his men as follows: "I
order that these two sons of Vasudeva be immediately driven out
of Mathura. The cowherd boys who have come with Them should be
plundered and all their riches taken away. Nanda Maharaja
should immediately be arrested and killed for his cunning
behavior, and that rascal Vasudeva should also be killed
without delay. Also my father, Ugrasena, who has always
supported my enemies against my will, should be killed."
When Kamsa spoke in this way, Lord Krsna became very angry with
him, and within a second He jumped onto the high dais of King
Kamsa. Kamsa was prepared for Krsna's attack, for he knew from
the beginning that Krsna was to be the supreme cause of his
death. Kamsa immediately unsheathed his sword and prepared to
answer the challenge of Krsna with sword and shield. As Kamsa
wielded his sword up and down, hither and thither, Lord Krsna,
the supreme powerful Lord, caught hold of him with great force.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the shelter of the
complete creation and from whose lotus navel the whole creation
is manifested, immediately knocked the crown from the head of
Kamsa and grabbed his long hair in His hand. He then dragged
Kamsa from his seat to the wrestling dais and threw him down.
Then Krsna at once straddled his chest and began to strike him
over and over again. Simply from the strokes of Krsna's fist,
Kamsa lost his vital force.
To assure His parents that Kamsa was dead, Lord Krsna
dragged him just as a lion drags an elephant after killing it.
When people saw this, there was a great roaring sound from all
sides as some spectators expressed their jubilation and others
cried in lamentation. From the day Kamsa had heard he would
be killed by the eighth son of Devaki, he was always thinking
of Krsna with His wheel in hand, and because he was very much
afraid of his death, he was thinking of Krsna in that form
twenty-four hours a day, without stopping -- even
while eating, while walking and while
breathing -- and naturally he got the blessing of liberation.
In the Bhagavad-gita it is stated, sada tad-bhava-bhavitah: [Bg.
8.6] a person gets his next life according to the thoughts in
which he is always absorbed. Kamsa was thinking of Krsna with
His wheel, which means Narayana, who holds a wheel, conchshell,
lotus flower and club.
According to the opinion of authorities, Kamsa attained sarupya-
mukti after death; that is to say, he attained the same form as
Narayana (Visnu). On the Vaikuntha planets all the inhabitants
have the same bodily features as Narayana. After his death,
Kamsa attained liberation and was promoted to Vaikunthaloka.
From this instance we can understand that even a person who
thinks of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as an enemy gets
liberation or a place in a Vaikuntha planet, so what to speak
of the pure devotees, who are always absorbed in favorable
thoughts of Krsna? Even an enemy killed by Krsna gets
liberation and is placed in the impersonal brahma-jyoti.
Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is all-good, anyone
thinking of Him, either as an enemy or as a friend, gets
liberation. But the liberation of the devotee and the
liberation of the enemy are not the same. The enemy generally
gets the liberation of sayujya, and sometimes he gets sarupya
liberation.
Kamsa had eight brothers, headed by Kanka, all of them
younger than he, and when they learned that their elder brother
had been killed, they combined together and rushed toward
Krsna in great anger to kill Him. Kamsa and his brothers were
all Krsna's maternal uncles, brothers of Krsna's
mother, Devaki. When Krsna killed Kamsa He killed His maternal
uncle, which is against the regulations of Vedic injunctions.
Although Krsna is independent of all Vedic injunctions, He
violates the Vedic injunctions only in inevitable cases. Kamsa
could not be killed by anyone but Krsna; therefore Krsna was
obliged to kill him. But as far as Kamsa's eight brothers were
concerned, Balarama took charge of killing them. Balarama's
mother, Rohini, although the wife of Vasudeva, was not the
sister of Kamsa; therefore Balarama took charge of killing all
of Kamsa's eight brothers. He immediately took up an available
weapon (most probably the elephant's tusk which He carried) and
killed the eight brothers one after another, just as a lion
kills a flock of deer. Krsna and Balarama thus verified the
statement that the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears in
order to give protection to the pious and to kill the impious
demons, who are always enemies of the demigods.
The demigods from the higher planetary systems showered
flowers, congratulating Krsna and Balarama. Among the
demigods were powerful personalities like Lord Brahma and Lord
Siva, and all joined together in showing their jubilation over
Kamsa's death. There were beating of drums and showering of
flowers from the heavenly planets, and the wives of the
demigods danced in ecstasy.
The wives of Kamsa and his eight brothers were aggrieved at
the sudden death of their husbands, and all
of them struck their foreheads and shed torrents
of tears. Crying loudly and embracing the
bodies of their husbands, which lay on the wrestling dais, the
wives of Kamsa and his brothers lamented, addressing
the dead bodies: "Our dear husbands, you are so kind and are
the protectors of your dependents. Now, after your death, we
are also dead, along with your homes and children. We no
longer look auspicious. On account of your death, the
auspicious functions to take place, such as the
sacrifice of the bow, have all been spoiled. Our dear husbands,
you treated persons ill who were faultless, and as a result you
have been killed. This is inevitable because a person who
torments an innocent person must be punished by the laws of
nature. We know that Lord Krsna is the Supreme Personality of
Godhead. He is the supreme master and supreme
enjoyer of everything; therefore, one who neglects His
authority can never be happy, and ultimately, as you have, he
meets death."
Since Krsna was kind and affectionate to His aunts, He solaced
them as far as possible. The ritualistic
ceremonies performed after death were then conducted under the
personal supervision of Krsna because He happened to be the
nephew of all the dead princes. After finishing this business,
Krsna and Balarama immediately released Their father and mother,
Vasudeva and Devaki, who had been imprisoned by Kamsa. Krsna
and Balarama fell at Their parents' feet and offered them
prayers. Vasudeva and Devaki had suffered so much trouble from
Kamsa because Krsna was their son
. Devaki and Vasudeva were
fully conscious of Krsna's exalted position as the Supreme
Personality of Godhead; therefore, although Krsna touched their
feet and offered them obeisances and prayers, they did
not embrace Him but simply stood up to hear the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. Although Krsna was born as their son,
Vasudeva and Devaki were always conscious of His position.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Forty-fourth Chapter
of Krsna, "The Killing of Kamsa."
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