SB 10.45.1

Devanāgarī

श्रीशुक उवाच पितरावुपलब्धार्थौ विदित्वा पुरुषोत्तम: । मा भूदिति निजां मायां ततान जनमोहिनीम् ॥ १ ॥

Text

śrī-śuka uvāca pitarāv upalabdhārthau viditvā puruṣottamaḥ mā bhūd iti nijāṁ māyāṁ tatāna jana-mohinīm

Synonyms

śrī-śukaḥuvāca—Śukadeva Gosvāmī said;pitarau—His parents;upalabdha—having realized;arthau—the idea (of His opulent position as God);viditvā—knowing;puruṣa-uttamaḥ—the Supreme Personality;mābhūtiti—“this should not be”;nijām—His personal;māyām—illusory potency;tatāna—He expanded;jana—His devotees;mohinīm—which bewilders.

Translation

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Understanding that His parents were becoming aware of His transcendental opulences, the Supreme Personality of Godhead thought that this should not be allowed to happen. Thus He expanded His Yoga-māyā, which bewilders His devotees.

Purport

If Vasudeva and Devakī would have seen Kṛṣṇa as almighty God, their intense love for Him as their son would have been spoiled. Lord Kṛṣṇa did not want this. Rather, the Lord wanted to enjoy with them the ecstatic love of vātsalya-rasa, the relationship between parents and children. As Śrīla Prabhupāda often pointed out, although we normally think of God as the supreme father, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness we can enter into the Lord’s pastimes and play the part of His parents, thus intensifying our love for Him.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura points out that the word jana may be translated here as “devotees,” as in the verse dīyamānaṁ na gṛhṇanti vinā mat-sevanaṁ janaḥ ( Bhāg. 3.29.13 ). He further explains that jana may also be translated as “parents,” since jana is derived from the verb jan, which in the causative form ( janayate ) means “to generate or to give birth to.” In this sense of the word (as in jananī or janakau ), the term jana-mohinī indicates that the Lord was about to expand His internal illusory potency so that Vasudeva and Devakī would again love Him as their dear child.

Chapter 45 SB 10.45.2 →