śrī-śukaḥ uvāca — Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said; bahiḥ-antaḥ-pura-dvāraḥ — the doors inside and outside the house; sarvāḥ — all; pūrva-vat — like before; āvṛtāḥ — closed; tataḥ — thereafter; bāla-dhvanim — the crying of the newborn child; śrutvā — hearing; gṛha-pālāḥ — all the inhabitants of the house, especially the doormen; samutthitāḥ — awakened.

Translation

“Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: My dear King Parīkṣit, the doors inside and outside the house closed as before. Thereafter, the inhabitants of the house, especially the watchmen, heard the crying of the newborn child and thus awakened from their beds.”

Bhaktivedanta Purport

By Śrīla Prabhupāda

The activities of Yoga-māyā are distinctly visible in this chapter, in which Devakī and Vasudeva excuse Kaṁsa for his many devious, atrocious activities and Kaṁsa becomes repentant and falls at their feet. Before the awakening of the watchmen and the others in the prison house, many other things happened. Kṛṣṇa was born and transferred to the home of Yaśodā in Gokula, the strong doors opened and again closed, and Vasudeva resumed his former condition of being shackled. The watchmen, however, could not understand all this. They awakened only when they heard the crying of the newborn child, Yoga-māyā. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has remarked that the watchmen were just like dogs. At night the dogs in the street act like watchmen. If one dog barks, many other dogs immediately follow it by barking. Although the street dogs are not appointed by anyone to act as watchmen, they think they are responsible for protecting the neighborhood, and as soon as someone unknown enters it, they all begin to bark. Both Yoga-māyā and Mahā-māyā act in all material activities (prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ), but although the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead acts under the Supreme Lord’s direction (mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram), doglike watchmen such as politicians and diplomats think that they are protecting their neighborhoods from the dangers of the outside world. These are the actions of māyā. But one who surrenders to Kṛṣṇa is relieved of the protection afforded by the dogs and doglike guardians of this material world.