14 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 10, Ch. 1

Once when the entire world was overburdened by the increasing mili-
tary power of demons in the form of kings, mother earth assumed the
shape of a cow and approached Lord Brahma for relief. Sympathetic to
mother earth’s lamentation, Brahma, accompanied by Lord Siva and
other demigods, took the cow-shaped mother earth to the shore of the
milk ocean, where he offered prayers to please Lord Visnu, who lay there
on an island in transcendental ecstasy. Brahma thereafter understood the
advice of Maha-Visnu, 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 Krsna in the family of Yadu to increase the sons and grandsons in
that dynasty. By the will of Lord Krsna, Anantadeva would appear first,
as Balarama, and Krsna’s potency, yogamdyd, would also appear.
Brahma informed mother earth about all this, and then he returned to
his own abode.

After marrying Devaki, Vasudeva was returning home with her on a
chariot driven by Karnsa, her brother, when an ominous voice addressed
Karnsa, warning him that Devaki’s eighth son would kill him. Upon
hearing this omen, Karnsa was immediately ready to kill Devaki, but
Vasudeva diplomatically began to instruct him. Vasudeva stressed that it
would not be good for Karnsa 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 con-
ception wants to kill another body, he is condemned as hellish.

Because Karisa was not satisfied by Vasudeva’s instructions, Vasudeva
devised a plan. He offered to bring Kamsa all of Devaki’s children so that
Karhsa could kill them. Why then should Karnsa kill Devaki now? Karnsa
was satisfied by this proposal. In due course of time, when Devaki gave
birth to a child, Vasudeva brought the newborn baby to Karnsa, who,
upon seeing Vasudeva’s magnanimity, was struck with wonder. When
Vasudeva gave Karhsa the child, Karnsa, 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, Karnsa requested Vasudeva
to take the child back. Later, however, after Narada approached Karnsa
and disclosed to him that the demigods were appearing in the Yadu and
