SB 10.3.31
visvam yad etat sva-tanau nisante
yathavakasam purusah paro bhavan
bibharti so ’yam mama garbhago ’bhud
aho nr-lokasya vidambanam hi tat
Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
At the time of devastation, the entire cosmos, containing all created moving and nonmoving entities, enters Your transcendental body and is held there without difficulty. But now this transcendental form has taken birth from my womb. People will not be able to believe this, and I shall become an object of ridicule.
Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
As explained in Caitanya-caritamrta, loving service to the Personality of Godhead is of two different kinds: aisvarya-purna, full of opulence, and aisvarya-sithila, without opulence. Real love of Godhead begins with aisvarya-sithila, simply on the basis of pure love.
premañjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena
santah sadaiva hrdayesu vilokayanti
yam syamasundaram acintya-guna-svarupam
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
(Brahma-samhita 5.38)
Pure devotees, whose eyes are anointed with the ointment of prema, love, want to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead as Syamasundara, Muralidhara, with a flute swaying in His two hands. This is the form available to the inhabitants of Vrndavana, who are all in love with the Supreme Personality of Godhead as Syamasundara, not as Lord Visnu, Narayana, who is worshiped in Vaikuntha, where the devotees admire His opulence. Although Devaki is not on the Vrndavana platform, she is near the Vrndavana platform. On the Vrndavana platform the mother of Krsna is mother Yasoda, and on the Mathura and Dvaraka platform the mother of Krsna is Devaki. In Mathura and Dvaraka the love for the Lord is mixed with appreciation of His opulence, but in Vrndavana the opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not exhibited.
There are five stages of loving service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead — santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya and madhurya. Devaki is on the platform of vatsalya. She wanted to deal with her eternal son, Krsna, in that stage of love, and therefore she wanted the Supreme Personality of Godhead to withdraw His opulent form of Visnu. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura illuminates this fact very clearly in his explanation of this verse.
Bhakti, bhagavan and bhakta do not belong to the material world. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (14.26):
mam ca yo ’vyabhicarena
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa gunan samatityaitan
brahma-bhuyaya kalpate
“One who engages in the spiritual activities of unalloyed devotional service immediately transcends the modes of material nature and is elevated to the spiritual platform.” From the very beginning of one’s transactions in bhakti, one is situated on the transcendental platform. Vasudeva and Devaki, therefore, being situated in a completely pure devotional state, are beyond this material world and are not subject to material fear. In the transcendental world, however, because of pure devotion, there is a similar conception of fear, which is due to intense love.
As stated in Bhagavad-gita (bhaktya mam abhijanati yavan yas casmi tattvatah) and as confirmed in Srimad-Bhagavatam (bhaktyaham ekaya grahyah), without bhakti one cannot understand the spiritual situation of the Lord. Bhakti may be considered in three stages, called guni-bhuta, pradhani-bhuta and kevala, and according to these stages there are three divisions, which are called jñana, jñanamayi and rati, or prema — that is, simple knowledge, love mixed with knowledge, and pure love. By simple knowledge, one can perceive transcendental bliss without variety. This perception is called mana-bhuti. When one comes to the stage of jñanamayi, one realizes the transcendental opulences of the Personality of Godhead. But when one reaches pure love, one realizes the transcendental form of the Lord as Lord Krsna or Lord Rama. This is what is wanted. Especially in the madhurya-rasa, one becomes attached to the Personality of Godhead (sri-vigraha-nistha-rupadi). Then loving transactions between the Lord and the devotee begin.
The special significance of Krsna’s bearing a flute in His hands in Vrajabhumi, Vrndavana, is described as madhuri … virajate. The form of the Lord with a flute in His hands is most attractive, and the one who is most sublimely attracted is Srimati Radharani, Radhika. She enjoys supremely blissful association with Krsna. Sometimes people cannot understand why Radhika’s name is not mentioned in Srimad-Bhagavatam. Actually, however, Radhika can be understood from the word aradhana, which indicates that She enjoys the highest loving affairs with Krsna.
Not wanting to be ridiculed for having given birth to Visnu, Devaki wanted Krsna, with two hands, and therefore she requested the Lord to change His form.