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First written on January 09, 2005 Revised and Updated on June 16, 2007 Srimad Bhagavatham - Chapter 2 - Birth of Lord Krishna Kamsa killed six babies of Devaki and Vasudeva one after another. Vasudeva had number of wives and his main queens were Devaki and Rohini. Devaki was imprisoned with him and Rohini was living at his friend's place. This friend's name was Nand and he was a cowherd. But he was one of the rich cowherds having the status of a King in his society. In Vedic societies, the people were divided into various communities based on their profession. We have Brahmins or the Priests, Kshatriyas responsible for ruling and administration, Vaishyas responsible for trading and Shudras responsible for working. Nand was a Vaishya by his profession. Unfortunately, this converted into a caste system based on birth over a period of time. Nand and his wife Yashoda, both blessed souls, were granted a boon by the supreme lord himself in their previous birth. It must be remembered that in Vedas, the soul never dies. After death, the soul takes another birth and body, after answering for its good or bad deeds. Only exalted souls get out of this repeated cycle of birth and death. This is called "Moksha". They were the foster parents of Lord Krishna during his childhood. This happiness was not available to his real parents. Devaki became pregnant for the seventh time and Lord's potency of Gravitation, represented by a snake with millions of hoods, called Anantnag or Adisesha took the place in the womb. The Lord also summoned his external potency of creating an illusion and called "Maya". This is represented in the form of a female. He ordered her to transfer the seventh child in Devaki's womb into Rohini's womb. He also requested her to take birth in Yashoda' s womb. Since they were to appear simultaneously, he called Anant his elder brother and Yogmaya  as his younger sister. After birth, she is known as Durga, Maya and thousands of other names. She was also given godlike status and a boon that she will gratify all requests for sense gratification in this world. This is the reason you will find millions of temples all over India for her. The time for Lord to appear in the world approached. The whole universe was awaiting for the moment and all the planetary configurations were at their best. The Lord appeared personally before Vasudeva and Devaki and explained to them as why he chose them to be his parents because of their past good deeds. He also informed Vasudeva that he should take him as a baby to his friend Nand's house and replace him with a female baby who should be brought back to jail. After giving all explanations, instructions and confidence to them, he turned himself into a small baby. It must be remembered that the supreme lord is never born by the normal impregnation of a woman like other human beings. Exactly at the same time, a daughter was born to Yashoda and Nand who were living in the nearby village. By the influence of Maya, all the guards were sleeping. The shackles were unshackled and Vasudeva carried the new born baby is a basket. It was raining heavily and the river Yamuna was flooded. Vasudeva had to cross the river to reach his destination. The river gave him passage, even though it was flooded. Vasudeva reached the other side of the bank, reached Nand's house and saw a new born female baby. He replaced his own baby and carried the female baby back to jail. The whole world was asleep and no one knew what was happening. As soon as he reached the jail, the shackles clamped on automatically and things appeared normal. Devaki also did not remember whether she gave birth to a male or female child because of lord's power of creating illusion.   End of Chapter 2 Written by Madhavan T Gopalachary The views, opinions and interpretations are personal. Sponsorship does not mean that the sponsors endorse them. Editorial Policy © Copyright, Jun-07 . www.madgopes.com . Without prejudice. All rights reserved www.mmgindia.com is the official website of Madras Management Group, Management Consultants, Chennai, India. www.madgopes.com and www.mmg.name are personal websites and all editorials are published under their banner to retain editorial independence. We would highly appreciate feedback from readers and it may be sent to feedback@mmg.name