Devaki & Vasudeva: A tale of selfless sacrifice
Traditional values of matrimony, as a lifelong commitment to mutual loyalty and selfless sacrifice, are being traded in for modern live-in-relationships where egotism strangulates all traces of logic and reason. The birth anniversary of Krishna brings to mind his extraordinary parents, Devaki and Vasudeva.
Tragedy stared Devaki in the face right from the day of her marriage. Kamsa grabbed her by the hair and was on the verge of severing her head just because an invisible celestial voice prophesized that he would be killed by her eighth born child. Instead of becoming a pessimist and questioning the will of Providence, Devaki maintained implicit faith in her stoic, noble hearted husband who managed to prevail over Kamsa’s demoniac intentions with reason and good counsel. Crisis threatens relationships, now-a-days, but it strengthened Vasudeva’s and Devaki’s bonding, instead.
Set free, Devaki gave birth to a male child in her own home. All was well for some time, till the sage Narada instigated Kamsa by cautioning him that any child of Devaki could be his killer. He threw the couple in jail and brutally murdered their first born, Kirtiman. They lamented for their lost son, but never complained about a hardhearted God.
Undaunted, Devaki mothered a second son. Wrenching the helpless second child from his sister’s arms, Kamsa brutally killed him as well. Devaki and Vasudeva were undeterred. They produced four more sons in spite of knowing that Kamsa would replicate his horrendous act. One may wonder why they continued to beget children if it brought on such suffering. Why not remain childless? The birth of their seventh born son, Balarama, was an intriguing experience. He was mysteriously transferred to the womb of Rohini shortly after conception.
Devaki was under the misconception that it was a miscarriage. Women in this condition tend to feel a sense of guilt and experience a withdrawal syndrome, but Devaki stood up to this setback. She became pregnant for the eighth time.
The unbounded joy of giving birth to their jewel like eighth born, Krishna, more than made up for all the tribulations they had undergone previously in prison – but that joy was short lived! Devaki had barely enough time to breast feed her son because Vasudeva was ordered to carry him across the Yamuna to the palace of Nanda and Yashoda, in Gokula, that very same night.
Krishna and Balarama returned to Mathura with hearts of gratitude, after twelve years, to set their parents free from the oppression of their demoniac uncle, Kamsa. Devaki, however, was feeling unfulfilled because she was deprived of the opportunity to suckle her six elder sons who were murdered by Kamsa. Krishna and Balarama recalled them from the abode of death and handed them over to Devaki who breastfed them to her heart’s content. Not only that - both were blessed with the privilege of spending the rest of their lives in the constant association of Krishna and Balarama in Dwaraka.