Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.3.51

nanda-vrajaḿ śaurir upetya tatra tān

gopān prasuptān upalabhya nidrayā

sutaḿ yaśodā-śayane nidhāya tat-

sutām upādāya punar gṛhān agāt

SYNONYMS

nanda-vrajam — the village or the house of Nanda Mahārāja; śauriḥ — Vasudeva; upetya — reaching; tatra — there; tān — all the members; gopān — the cowherd men; prasuptān — were fast asleep; upalabhya — understanding that; nidrayā — in deep sleep; sutam — the son (Vasudeva's son); yaśodā-śayane — on the bed where mother Yaśodā was sleeping; nidhāya — placing; tat-sutām — her daughter; upādāya — picking up; punaḥ — again; gṛhān — to his own house; agāt — returned.

TRANSLATION

When Vasudeva reached the house of Nanda Mahārāja, he saw that all the cowherd men were fast asleep. Thus he placed his own son on the bed of Yaśodā, picked up her daughter, an expansion of Yogamāyā, and then returned to his residence, the prison house of Kaḿsa.

PURPORT

Vasudeva knew very well that as soon as the daughter was in the prison house of Kaḿsa, Kaḿsa would immediately kill her; but to protect his own child, he had to kill the child of his friend. Nanda Mahārāja was his friend, but out of deep affection and attachment for his own son, he knowingly did this. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says that one cannot be blamed for protecting one's own child at the sacrifice of another's. Furthermore, Vasudeva cannot be accused of callousness, since his actions were impelled by the force of Yogamāyā.

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