Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.45.1

śrī-śuka uvāca

pitarāv upalabdhārthau

viditvā puruṣottamaḥ

mā bhūd iti nijāḿ māyāḿ

tatāna jana-mohinīm

SYNONYMS

śrī-śukaḥ uvāca — Śukadeva Gosvāmī said; pitarau — His parents; upalabdha — having realized; arthau — the idea (of His opulent position as God); viditvā — knowing; puruṣa-uttamaḥ — the Supreme Personality; mā bhūt iti — "this should not be"; nijām — His personal; māyām — illusory potency; tatāna — He expanded; jana — His devotees; mohinīm — which bewilders.

TRANSLATION

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Understanding that His parents were becoming aware of His transcendental opulences, the Supreme Personality of Godhead thought that this should not be allowed to happen. Thus He expanded His Yogamāyā, which bewilders His devotees.

PURPORT

If Vasudeva and Devakī would have seen Kṛṣṇa as almighty God, their intense love for Him as their son would have been spoiled. Lord Kṛṣṇa did not want this. Rather, the Lord wanted to enjoy with them the ecstatic love of vātsalya-rasa, the relationship between parents and children. As Śrīla Prabhupāda often pointed out, although we normally think of God as the supreme father, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness we can enter into the Lord's pastimes and play the part of His parents, thus intensifying our love for Him.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura points out that the word jana may be translated here as "devotees," as in the verse dīyamānaḿ na gṛhṇanti vinā mat-sevanaḿ janaḥ (Bhāg. 3.29.13). He further explains that jana may also be translated as "parents," since jana is derived from the verb jan, which in the causative form (janayate) means "to generate or to give birth to." In this sense of the word (as in jananī or janakau), the term jana-mohinī indicates that the Lord was about to expand His internal illusory potency so that Vasudeva and Devakī would again love Him as their dear child.

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