praviṣṭas tu gṛhaṁ pitroḥ pariṣvaktaḥ sva-mātṛbhiḥ vavande śirasā sapta devakī-pramukhā mudā
Synonyms
praviṣṭaḥ—after entering; tu—but; gṛham—houses; pitroḥ—of the father; pariṣvaktaḥ—embraced; sva-mātṛbhiḥ—by His own mothers; vavande—offered obeisances; śirasā—by the head; sapta—seven; devakī—of the name; pramukhā—headed by; mudā—at that time.
Translation
After entering the house of His father, He was embraced by the mothers present and the Lord offered His obeisances unto them by placing His head on the feet of the mothers headed by Devaki (His real mother).
Purport
It appears that Vasudeva the father of Lord Krishna had complete separate residential quarters where he lived with his eighteen wives. Vasudeva had eighteen wives out of them Srimati Devaki is the real mother of Lord Krishna. But inspite of this all other step-mothers were equally affectionate with Him as will be evident from the following verse. Lord Krishna also did not distinguish His real mother from the step mothers and He equally offered His obeisances unto all the wives of Vasudeva present on the occasion. According to scriptures also there are seven mothers. 1. Real mother, 2. wife of spirituel master, 3. the wife of a Brahmin, 4 the wife of the king, 5. the cow, 6. the nurse and 7. the earth, all of them are mothers. Even to this injunction of the Shastras step-mother, who is the wife of father, is also as good as mother because father is also one of the spiritual masters. Lord Krishna the Lord of the universe plays the part of an ideal son just to teach others how to treat with step-mothers.