When Vasudeva Was In Prison With Devaki, How Did Rohini Conceive A Child?

Question: How was Rohini able to conceive Balarama when Vasudeva was imprisoned with Devaki?

Answer: The appearance of Balarama is indeed somewhat shrouded in mystery, and we must piece together details from various scriptures and the commentaries written by different acharyas (spiritual teachers). There are three broad points to consider:

1. Initial Trust and Limited Freedom: Although Kamsa feared Vasudeva, believing that Vasudeva’s sons would kill him, he initially trusted Vasudeva’s word that he would hand over each son to him. When Vasudeva faithfully brought his first son to Kamsa, he earned Kamsa’s temporary trust. While Kamsa later became more paranoid after hearing Narada Muni’s words and the incitement of his demoniac associates, leading him to imprison Vasudeva and Devaki, there’s commentary suggesting that Vasudeva still retained some limited freedom. This might have included brief periods when he was allowed outside the prison, such as when he brought his sons to Kamsa to be killed. During this earlier phase, Kamsa’s primary concern was the children born to Devaki. He did not go out of his way to prevent Vasudeva from meeting his other wives, including Rohini, as they were not perceived as an immediate threat.
2. Rohini’s Conception and Relocation: Vasudeva, understanding the unfolding divine plan, discreetly arranged for Rohini to be moved to Vrindavan. According to texts like Gopala Champu, she was sent quietly, perhaps on a single white horse, without much fanfare. She was warmly welcomed by Nanda Maharaja and remained under his care in Vrindavan.
3. Yogamaya’s Transfer: The third and most crucial step occurred after Balarama’s initial conception in Devaki’s womb. At that point, there was an apparent “miscarriage” of Balarama from Devaki’s womb. This was not a literal miscarriage but a mystical transfer performed by Yogamaya (the internal potency of the Lord). Yogamaya transferred the embryo of Balarama from Devaki’s womb to Rohini’s womb, where Rohini had already conceived another child who was then mystically removed or had a miscarriage. Balarama then continued to develop in Rohini’s womb.

In this way, through these orchestrated divine events, Rohini conceived and gave birth to Balarama.

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Question, how was Rohini able to conceive when Vasudev was in prison with Devaki? Answer, the appearance of Balram is somewhat shrouded in mystery and we have to piece together parts of it from the scriptures as well as from various commentarial books written by different Acharyas. So there are three broad steps.
First is, although Kamsa was fearful of Vasudev, Vasudev and Devaki’s son killing him, he trusted Vasudev’s word that he would hand his sons over to him. So when Vasudev brought his sons, brought his first son, he earned the trust of Kamsa, although the subsequent incitement on hearing Narada’s words and the ideas of his demoniac colleagues made Kamsa arrest and persecute Vasudev again. But still Vasudev had some freedom where he could meet Rohini at times, especially say when he came out of the prison to hand over his sons to Kamsa, who would then kill them one by one.
Overall, during that time, also because it was Devaki that was considered to be a threat, not Rohini, so Kamsa did not really stop, go out of his way to prevent Vasudev from meeting his other wives, including Rohini. And then when Rohini had conceived, it became clear, Vasudev had, this part is explained in Gopal Champu and other places that Vasudev had Rohini discreetly moved to Vrindavan. So on a single white horse without much fanfare, she was sent to Vrindavan and of course she was welcomed warmly by Nandamaharaj.
And she stayed with him. And then when Balram was conceived, and then when there was the apparent miscarriage of Balram from Devaki’s womb, Yogamaya transferred Balram to Rohini’s womb. So this was the third stage where the child which Rohini had earlier, there was a miscarriage of that child and that child was replaced by the child who Yogamaya had transported.
So in this way, Devaki, Rohini conceived Balram. Thank you.