244 Srimad-Bhagavatam [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
Karnsa is due to Your appearance. My Lord Madhusiidana, Karnsa 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
Visnu—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.”

Devaki was so afraid of Karnsa that she could not believe that Karnsa
would be unable to kill Lord Visnu, 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
Karnsa 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 Visnu to disappear.
Later, when harassed, she would think of Him within her mind.

TEXT 29
TH FATT UAT AT earanqaea |
Aga ARAM: Farcenfe: RSI
Janma te mayy asau pdpo
mé vidyan madhusidana
samudvije bhavad-dhetoh
kamsad aham adhira-dhih

janma—the birth; te—of Your Lordship; mayi—in my (womb);
asau—that Karnsa; paépah—extremely sinful; ma vidyét—may be un-
able to understand; madhusiidana—O Madhusidana; samudvije—I am
full of anxiety; bhavat-hetoh—because of Your appearance; karisat—
because of Karnsa, with whom I have had such bad experience; aham—
I; adhira-dhih—have become more and more anxious.
