Kl02. Vasudeva Saves Devaki From Kamsa Poem by Rajaram Ramachandran

KRISHNA LEELA

The Royal Prince Vasudeva,
The son of King Surasena,
Homeward was in a chariot,
With Devaki, he married just.

At that time, the son of Ugrasena,
The driver of the chariot, Kamsa,
As a custom, Devaki, her sister,
To the new house, he took her.

There broke from the sky,
On the way, a stern voice high,
That he was to be killed,
By her eighth-born child.

Kamsa, the son of Ugrasena,
Of the famous dynasty Bhoja,
A cruel minded person was.
Who tortured many for no cause.

He caught hold of her hair,
And was about to kill her.
Vasudeva, at his behavior,
As a noble, couldn't bear.

"Your sister you kill how?
She got married just now.
What a great hero you're,
To do this act, is it fair? "

"Here one, who takes birth,
Is sure, one day, to face death.
Then the body turns to dust,
From where it came first."

"Just as one foot rests on,
And then the other lifts on,
A soul, one body up it takes,
And another then it picks."

"To suit the flickering mind,
This body changes, you'll find,
While remains not the soul
In its own body, more spiritual."

"Material thoughts-bound soul,
It identifies ‘self' as body, not soul.
Just as shapes many but one sun,
In the water it reflects when."

"The body, for impious action,
It suffers its own reaction,
In the next life, when born,
So, better not envy anyone."

"Devaki, your younger sister,
She is more like your daughter,
Please kill not her, it is better,
Your love she deserves, no matter."

How far the blow of a conch,
A deaf man's ears can catch?
Can these noble words of Vasudeva,
Go into the deaf ears of Kamsa?

In so many words he tried,
But Kamsa wasn't pacified,
‘Cause of his attitude mean,
And in born nature of a demon

Vasudeva then told, there was no fear,
Of his imminent death from her,
But was from one of her children,
So, to kill her, there was no reason.

Kamsa accepted his offer,
To kill the children later,
Instead of his married sister,
Till then he loved as a brother.

Kamsa kept them in shackle,
Right under his control to tackle,
His imminent death sooner,
Or it was due sometime later.

His worry, at first, was mild
The eighth being killer child,
But when Sage Narada told,
His reaction became wild.

Narada warned him of the dangers,
From the Yadu dynasty members,
Those demigods born in advance,
Before Lord Vishnu's appearance.

The male children one by one,
He killed every new born,
Year after year, all the seven,
And he awaited the killer one.

He imprisoned his father,
Assumed the royal power,
He forcibly took the crown,
And ascended the royal throne.