Text 51
nanda-vrajaṁ śaurir upetya tatra tān
gopān prasuptān upalabhya nidrayā
sutaṁ yaśodā-śayane nidhāya tat-
sutām upādāya punar gṛhān agāt
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.
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 Yoga-māyā, and then returned to his residence, the prison house of Kaṁsa.
Vasudeva knew very well that as soon as the daughter was in the prison house of Kaṁsa, Kaṁsa 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 Yoga-māyā.