Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.1.56

atha kāla upāvritte

devakī sarva-devatā

putrān prasushuve cāshtau

kanyām caivānuvatsaram

SYNONYMS

atha — thereafter; kāle — in due course of time; upāvritte — when it was ripe; devakī — Devakī, the wife of Vasudeva, Krishna's father; sarva-devatā — Devakī, to whom all the demigods and God Himself appeared; putrān — sons; prasushuve — gave birth to; ca — and; ashtau — eight; kanyām ca — and one daughter named Subhadrā; eva — indeed; anuvatsaram — year after year.

TRANSLATION

Each year thereafter, in due course of time, Devakī, 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 Subhadrā.

PURPORT

The spiritual master is sometimes glorified as sarva-devamayo guruh (Bhāg. 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-gītā (10.2) the Lord says, aham ādir hi devānām: "I am the source of all the devas." The Supreme Lord, Vishnu, the Original person, expands in different forms. Tad aikshata bahu syām (Chāndogya Upanishad 6.2.3). He alone has expanded into many. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Brahma-samhitā 5.33). There are different grades of forms, known as svāmśa and vibhinnāmśa. The svāmśa expansions, or vishnu-tattva, are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whereas the vibhinnāmśa are jīva-tattva, who are part and parcel of the Lord (mamaivāmśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtah sanātanah [Bg. 15.7]). If we accept Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and worship Him, all the parts and expansions of the Lord are automatically worshiped. Sarvārhanam acyutejyā (Bhāg. 4.31.14). Krishna is known as Acyuta (senayor ubhayor madhye ratham sthāpaya me 'cyuta). By worshiping Acyuta, Krishna, one automatically worships all the demigods. There is no need of separately worshiping either the vishnu-tattva or jīva-tattva. If one concentrates upon Krishna, one worships everyone. Therefore, because mother Devakī gave birth to Krishna, she is described here as sarva-devatā.

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