16. Returning to
Our Natural Consciousness
apare vasudevasya
devakyam yacito ‘bhyagat
ajas tvam asya ksemaya
vadhaya ca sura-dvisam
Others say that since both Vasudeva
and Devaki prayed for You, You have
taken Your birth as their son. Undoubt-
edly You are unborn, yet You take Your
birth for their welfare and to kill those
who are envious of the demigods.
—Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.33
It is also said that Vasudeva and Devaki, in their previous birth as
Sutapa and Prsni, underwent a severe type of penance to get the Lord as
their son, and as a result of such austerities the Lord appeared as their
son. It is already declared in the Bhagavad-gita that the Lord appears for
the welfare of all people in the world and to vanquish the asuras, or the
materialistic atheists.
The Lord says:
yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
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