14
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 10, Ch. 1]
Once when the entire world was overburdened by the increasing military power of demons in the form of kings, mother earth assumed the shape of a cow and approached Lord Brahmā for relief. Sympathetic to mother earth's lamentation, Brahmā, accompanied by Lord Śiva and other demigods, took the cow-shaped mother earth to the shore of the milk ocean, where he offered prayers to please Lord Viṣṇu, who lay there on an island in transcendental ecstasy. Brahmā thereafter understood the advice of Mahā-Viṣṇu, who informed him that He would appear on the surface of the earth to mitigate the burden created by the demons. The demigods, along with their wives, should appear there as associates of Lord Kṛṣṇa in the family of Yadu to increase the sons and grandsons in that dynasty. By the will of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Anantadeva would appear first, as Balarāma, and Kṛṣṇa's potency,  yogamāyā , would also appear. Brahmā informed mother earth about all this, and then he returned to his own abode.
After marrying Devakī, Vasudeva was returning home with her on a chariot driven by Kamsa, her brother, when an ominous voice addressed Kamsa, warning him that Devakī's eighth son would kill him. Upon hearing this omen, Kamsa was immediately ready to kill Devakī, but Vasudeva diplomatically began to instruct him. Vasudeva stressed that it would not be good for Kamsa to kill his younger sister, especially at the time of her marriage. Anyone who possesses a material body must die, Vasudeva advised him. Every living entity lives in a body for some time and then transmigrates to another body, but one is unfortunately misled into accepting the body as the soul. If a person under this mistaken conception wants to kill another body, he is condemned as hellish.
Because Kamsa was not satisfied by Vasudeva's instructions, Vasudeva devised a plan. He offered to bring Kamsa all of Devakī's children so that Kamsa could kill them. Why then should Kamsa kill Devakī now? Kamsa was satisfied by this proposal. In due course of time, when Devakī gave birth to a child, Vasudeva brought the newborn baby to Kamsa, who, upon seeing Vasudeva's magnanimity, was struck with wonder. When Vasudeva gave Kamsa the child, Kamsa, showing some intelligence, said that since he was to be killed by the eighth child, why should he kill the first? Although Vasudeva did not trust him, Kamsa requested Vasudeva to take the child back. Later, however, after Nārada approached Kamsa and disclosed to him that the demigods were appearing in the Yadu and