114 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 10, Ch. 1
vakyam—the following instruction; etat—this; uvdca—said; ha—in the
past.

Translation: ““Thereafter, Narada, the mental son of Lord Brahma, ap-
proached Karhsa and, in a very solitary place, informed him of the
following news.”

The great saint Narada descended from the heavenly planets to the
forest of Mathura and sent his messenger to Karnsa. When the messenger
approached Karnsa and informed him of Narada’s arrival, Karnsa, the
leader of the asuras, was very happy and immediately came out of his
palace to receive Narada, who was as bright as the sun, as powerful as
fire, and free from all tinges of sinful activities. Karnsa accepted Narada
as his guest, offered him respectful obeisances and gave him a golden
seat, brilliant like the sun. Narada was a friend of the King of heaven,
and thus he told Karnsa, the son of Ugrasena, ““My dear hero, you have
satisfied me with a proper reception, and therefore | shall tell you some-
thing secret and confidential. While I was coming here from Nanda-
kanana through the Caitraratha forest, | saw a great meeting of the
demigods, who followed me to Sumeru Parvata. We traveled through
many holy places, and finally we saw the holy Ganges. While Lord
Brahma was consulting the other demigods at the top of Sumeru Hill, I
was also present with my stringed instrument, the vind. | shall tell you
confidentially that the meeting was held just to plan to kill the
asuras, headed by you. You have a younger sister named Devaki, and it
is a fact that her eighth son will kill you.” (reference: Hari-varnsa,
Visnu-parva 1.2-16)

No one can blame Naradaji for encouraging Karnsa to kill the sons of
Devaki. The saint Narada is always a well-wisher for human society, and
he wanted the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, to descend to this
world as soon as possible so that the society of demigods would be pleased
and would see Karnsa and his friends killed by Krsna. Karnsa would also
attain salvation from his nefarious activities, and this too would very
much please the demigods and their followers. Srila Visvanatha
Cakravarti Thakura remarks in this connection that Narada Muni some-
times did things that were beneficial to the demigods and the demons
simultaneously. Sri Viraréghava Acarya, in his commentary, has in-
cluded the following half-verse in this regard: asurdh sarva evaita
