A drama before wedding

May 31, 2021 10:02 pm | Updated 10:02 pm IST

When Kamsa was driving Devaki and Vasudeva to their palace, a voice was heard saying that Devaki’s eighth child would slay Kamsa. At once Kamsa wanted to kill Devaki, but Vasudeva stopped him and reasoned with him, said V.S. Karunakarachariar in a discourse. Vasudeva argued that it was not Devaki herself who was going to kill Kamsa. It was only her son. Vasudeva promised to give all his children to Kamsa. What could have been going on in Vasudeva’s mind when he made such a promise? There was always the possibility that Kamsa might die before the eighth child was born. It was also possible that Devaki might not have eight children. Moreover, why should the voice of an unseen person be believed?

Kamsa agreed, and the chariot began to move again. How was Vasudeva able to hold the attention of a man angry enough to kill? This was a Krishna leela too. We should respect our elders, and attribute our special talents, or good attributes to them. It is to emphasise this that this whole scene took place. Later, Krishna was going to give a lecture to Arjuna on the battlefield. Arjuna was a confused, unhappy man. And yet the Lord was able to get his attention.

People would have said Krishna could achieve this because He was son of Vasudeva, the man whose words could ward off Kamsa’s death threat. The last verse of the Bhagavad Gita says wherever Krishna and Arjuna are to be found, there will be prosperity and victory. But Ramanujacharya in his commentary does not use the name Krishna, but says Vasudeva’s son. This was to stress the importance we have to give to our forebears. Krishna arranged for the little drama after Devaki’s wedding to show world that people must recognise that their good qualities come from their elders.

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