God's omnipotence means He can appear in any form and fulfill all His promises with absolute truthfulness.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Janmāṣṭamī Lecture — August 13, 1971, London 710813L2-LONDON [66:39 Minutes] Janmastami-Lecture_710813L2-LONDON Devotee: [introducing tape] London lecture number 7. Evening, August 13th, Janmāṣṭamī evening. London Temple, 1971. Prabhupāda: …svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁdadāti sva-padāntikam he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te ["O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherd men and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You."] tapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgī rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari vṛṣabhānu-sute devi praṇamāmi hari-priye ["I offer my respects to Rādhārāṇī, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. You are the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, and You are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa."] So actually, according to astronomical calculation, today is Janmāṣṭamī. But our gosvāmīs note that if in the Janmāṣṭamī, in the morning sunrise there is saptamī, then we don't observe that day as Janmāṣṭamī. Out of twenty-four hours, the morning sunrise, if there is still continuation of saptamī, then we take it as aṣṭamī[?].
The next day the whole day is not aṣṭamī, but in the morning, there is the sunrise, there is aṣṭamī. Very minute conclusion. Then we accept that as Janmāṣṭamī. Therefore the Janmāṣṭamī fasting will be observed tomorrow from morning—from sunrise to 12 o'clock at night.
You all know it. So before Lord's birth, the demigods came invisibly[?] at the house of Kaṁsa when the mother and father of Kṛṣṇa were kept prisoners. That was the condition. When Kaṁsa heard an omen that "You are taking very jubilantly your sister to her husband's house, but you do not know—you are so fool—that she is the source of your death. The eighth child born of your sister will kill you..." So demons, when there is a question of personal interest, the demon forgets any relative—it doesn't matter whether sister, father, mother.
So he was ready to kill Devakī immediately, his sister. So Vasudeva somehow or other saved her, because it is the duty of the husband to give all protection to the wife. Vedic marriage is not a farce; it is a spiritual obligation. The husband gives the wife all protection, all subsistence, and the wife serves the husband throughout the life so that the husband may feel always comfortable. This is the relationship between husband and wife. But in this age, Kali-yuga, it is stated—they are also mentioned in the Bhāgavata—that dam-patye ratim eva hi: the relationship between husband and wife will continue only on sex life.
That is very degraded. And actually we have seen many cases, as soon as there is some discrepancies in the sex life, there is separation. But according to Vedic scriptures there is no question of separation. Husband and wife must live throughout the life together, in distress and happiness, in the same condition. So it was the duty of Vasudeva, Kṛṣṇa's father.
Although he was newly married, immediately he took responsibility: "She is married to me. I give protection to my new wife." So he made a compromise: "My dear brother-in-law, I quite understand that your sister is the source of your [indistinct]. But after all, your sister is not killing you—her sons, one of her sons. It may be that she may not have any sons, so why you are dealing beforehand? There are so many, that in future someone will come as a son and he may kill you.
So…, and even though if you think that her son, any one of her sons, will kill you, I'll bring all my sons born of her before you as soon as he is born, and you may do whatever you like." He thought, "By this time, Kaṁsa may change his mind." In this way Devakī, mother of Kṛṣṇa, was saved from the imminent danger of being killed by her brother. But the brother was so rascal that Vasudeva regularly brought each and every child before Kaṁsa, and he killed them. So Kṛṣṇa is the eighth child, and He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One may argue that "How God takes birth?" There are many [indistinct]. And the answer is, "Why God will not take birth?" If God is all-powerful, why this power should be denied to Him, that "You cannot take birth"?