244
Śrimad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 10, Ch. 3]
our material eyes.” In other words, she requested the Lord to assume the form of an ordinary child. “My only cause of fear from my brother Kaṁsa is due to Your appearance. My Lord Madhusūdana, Kaṁsa may know that You are already born. Therefore I request You to conceal this four-armed form of Your Lordship, which holds the four symbols of Viṣṇu—namely the conchshell, the disc, the club and the lotus flower. My dear Lord, at the end of the annihilation of the cosmic manifestation, You put the whole universe within Your abdomen; still, by Your unalloyed mercy, You have appeared in my womb. I am surprised that You imitate the activities of ordinary human beings just to please Your devotee.”
Devakī was so afraid of Kaṁsa that she could not believe that Kaṁsa would be unable to kill Lord Viṣṇu, who was personally present. Out of motherly affection, therefore, she requested the Supreme Personality of Godhead to disappear. Although because of the Lord’s disappearance Kaṁsa would harass her more and more, thinking that the child born of her was hidden somewhere, she did not want the transcendental child to be harassed and killed. Therefore she requested Lord Viṣṇu to disappear. Later, when harassed, she would think of Him within her mind.
TEXT 29
जन्म ते मय्यसौ पापो मा विद्यान्मधुसूदन ।
समुद्धिजे भवद्धेतोः कंसादहमधीरधीः ॥२९॥
janma te mayy asau pāpo mā vidyān madhusūdana samudvije bhavad-dhetoḥ kaṁsād aham adhīra-dhīḥ
janma —the birth;  te —of Your Lordship;  mayi —in my (womb);  asau —that Kaṁsa;  pāpaḥ —extremely sinful;  mā vidyāt —may be unable to understand;  madhusūdana —O Madhusūdana;  samudvije —I am full of anxiety;  bhavat-hetoḥ —because of Your appearance;  kaṁsāt —because of Kaṁsa, with whom I have had such bad experience;  aham —I;  adhīra-dhīḥ —have become more and more anxious.