Text 56] The Advent of Lord Krsna: Introduction 87

atha kala updurtte
devaki sarva-devata
putran prasusuve castau
kanyam caivdnuvatsaram

atha—thereafter; kale—in due course of time; updvrtte—when it was
ripe; devaki—Devaki, the wife of Vasudeva, Krsna’s father; sarva-
devata—Devaki, to whom all the demigods and God Himself appeared;
putran—sons; prasusuve—gave birth to; ca—and; astau—eight;
kanyaém ca—and one daughter named Subhadra; eva—indeed; anu-
vatsaram—year after year.

TRANSLATION

Each year thereafter, in due course of time, Devaki, the mother
of God and all the demigods, gave birth to a child. Thus she bore

eight sons, one after another, and a daughter named Subhadra.

PURPORT

The spiritual master is sometimes glorified as sarva-devamayo guruh
(Bhag. 11.7.27). By the grace of the guru, the spiritual master, one can
understand the different kinds of devas. The word deva refers to God,
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the original source of all the
demigods, who are also called devas. In Bhagavad-gité (10.2) the Lord
says, aham ddir hi devandm: “I am the source of all the devas.” The
Supreme Lord, Visnu, the Original Person, expands in different forms.
Tad aiksata bahu syam (Chandogya Upanisad 6.2.3). He alone has ex-
panded into many. Advaitam acyutam anddim ananta-ripam (Brahma-
samhita 5.33). There are different grades of forms, known as svdrisa
and vibhinnamsa. The svdmsa expansions, or visnu-tattva, are the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, whereas the vibhinnamsa are jiva-
tattva, who are part and parcel of the Lord (mamaivarso jiva-loke jiva-
bhitah sanatanah). If we accept Krsna as the Supreme Personality of
Godhead and worship Him, all the parts and expansions of the Lord
are automatically worshiped. Sarvérhanam acyutejya (Bhag. 4.31.14).
Krsna is known as Acyuta (senayor ubhayor madhye ratham sthapaya
me ‘cyuta). By worshiping Acyuta, Krsna, one automatically worships all
the demigods. There is no need of separately worshiping either the
