Devanagari
आत्मानमिह सञ्जातं जानन्प्राग् विष्णुना हतम्
महासुरं कालनेमिं यदुभि: स व्यरुध्यत ॥ ६८ ॥
Verse text
ātmānam iha saṣjātaṁ
jānan prāg viṣṇunā hatam
mahāsuraṁ kālanemiṁ
yadubhiḥ sa vyarudhyata
Synonyms
ātmānam
—
personally
;
iha
—
in this world
;
saṣjātam
—
born again
;
jānan
—
understanding well
;
prāk
—
previously, before this birth
;
viṣṇunā
—
by Lord Viṣṇu
;
hatam
—
was killed
;
mahā
—
asuram — a great demon
;
kālanemim
—
by the name Kālanemi
;
yadubhiḥ
—
with the members of the Yadu dynasty
;
saḥ
—
he (Kaṁsa)
;
vyarudhyata
—
acted inimically .
Translation
In his previous birth, Kaṁsa had been a great demon named Kālanemi and been killed by Viṣṇu. Upon learning this information from Nārada, Kaṁsa became envious of everyone connected with the Yadu dynasty.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
In his previous birth, Kaṁsa had been a great demon named Kālanemi and been killed by Viṣṇu. Upon learning this information from Nārada, Kaṁsa became envious of everyone connected with the Yadu dynasty.
KB 10.1.68
Kaṁsa was made aware of his previous birth by the grace of Nārada. He learned that in his previous birth he had been a demon of the name Kālanemi and that he had been killed by Viṣṇu. Having now taken his birth in the Bhoja family, he decided to become the deadly enemy of the Yadu dynasty; Kṛṣṇa was going to take birth in that family, and Kaṁsa was very much afraid that he would be killed by Kṛṣṇa, just as he had been killed in his last birth.
Purport
Persons who are demons, enemies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are called
asuras.
As stated in
Bhagavad-gītā,
the
asuras,
because of their enmity toward the Supreme Personality of Godhead, take birth after birth in
asura
families and therefore glide down to the darkest hellish regions.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Knowing from Narada that he had previously as Kalanemi been killed by Visnu and had now been born as Kamsa in Mathura, he made the Yadus his enemies. Surasena indicates Mathura, which is within Surasena. Thus the statement "He enjoyed Surasena:" means "He enjoyed Mathura and the surrounding lands."
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
He was previously killed by Viṣṇu, the Lord who spreads himself throughout the universe by his powers. This indicates Viṣṇu’ṣ ability to kill him. Kaṁsa was able to remember his previous birth because of Nārada’s statement bhūtapūṛvaṁ ca tam smara: remember that previous birth.