Shloka 28
अथ तत्र कुरुश्रेष्ठ देवकी सर्वदेवता । श्रुत्वानीतं गुरो: पुत्रमात्मजाभ्यां सुविस्मिता ॥ २७ ॥ कृष्णरामौ समाश्राव्य पुत्रान् कंसविहिंसितान् । स्मरन्ती कृपणं प्राह वैक्लव्यादश्रुलोचना ॥ २८ ॥
atha tatra kuru-śreṣṭha devakī sarva-devatā śrutvānītaṁ guroḥ putram ātmajābhyāṁ su-vismitā
അപ്പോൾ, ഹേ കുരുശ്രേഷ്ഠാ, സർവ്വദേവതകളാൽ പൂജിക്കപ്പെടുന്ന ദേവകി തന്റെ രണ്ടു പുത്രന്മാരായ കൃഷ്ണനും രാമനും അഭിമുഖമായി സംസാരിച്ചു. അവർ ഗുരുവിന്റെ പുത്രനെ മരണത്തിൽ നിന്ന് തിരികെ കൊണ്ടുവന്നുവെന്ന് കേട്ട് അവൾ അത്യന്തം വിസ്മയിച്ചു. ഇപ്പോൾ കംസൻ കൊന്ന തന്റെ പുത്രന്മാരെ ഓർത്ത്, കണ്ണുനീർ നിറഞ്ഞ കണ്ണുകളോടെ കരുണയായി അപേക്ഷിച്ചു.
Vasudeva’s love for Kṛṣṇa had been disturbed because his awareness of Kṛṣṇa’s opulences conflicted with seeing Him as his son. In a different way, Devakī’s love was somewhat distracted by her lamentation for her dead sons. So Kṛṣṇa arranged to relieve her of the mistaken idea that anyone else but Him was actually her son. Since Devakī is known to be worshiped by all great souls, her show of maternal affection must actually have been an effect of the Lord’s Yoga-māyā, who increases the pleasure of His pastimes. Thus in text 54 Devakī will be described as mohitā māyayā viṣṇoḥ, “bewildered by the internal energy of Lord Viṣṇu.”
FAQs
This verse shows Devakī remembering her murdered sons and speaking in helpless sorrow, with tears—highlighting the deep human pain within Kṛṣṇa’s divine pastimes.
After being reunited with her divine sons, Devakī recounts Kaṁsa’s atrocities; remembrance of her lost children naturally rises, and she expresses her grief before Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma.
It validates honest grief while pointing to bringing one’s sorrow into the presence of the Divine—speaking it, remembering, and seeking shelter in devotion rather than suppressing pain.