Display
Devanagari is shown only when this page stored it. Harvard-Kyoto and ASCII are generated from the IAST verse.
Vanisource / Original texts
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.12.5
Save this passage to keep a private note on this device. Notes are not sent to Vedawiki.
Cite
Source navigation
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 5
- tān babhāṣe svabhūḥ putrān
- prajāḥ sṛjata putrakāḥ
- tan naicchan mokṣa-dharmāṇo
- vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ
tānunto the Kumāras, as above mentioned — unto the Kumāras, as above mentioned; babhāṣeaddressed — addressed; svabhūḥBrahmā — Brahmā; putrānunto the sons — unto the sons; prajāḥgenerations — generations; sṛjatato create — to create; putrakāḥO my sons — O my sons; tatthat — that; nanot — not; aicchandesired — desired; mokṣapledged to the principles of liberation-dharmāṇaḥpledged to the principles of liberation — pledged to the principles of liberation; vāsudevathe Personality of Godhead — the Personality of Godhead; parāyaṇāḥwho are so devoted — who are so devoted.
Brahmā spoke to his sons after generating them. "My dear sons," he said, "now generate progeny." But due to their being attached to Vāsudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they aimed at liberation, and therefore they expressed their unwillingness.
The four sons of Brahmā, the Kumāras, declined to become family men even on the request of their great father, Brahmā. Those who are serious about gaining release from material bondage should not be entangled in the false relationship of family bondage. People may ask how the Kumāras could refuse the orders of Brahmā, who was their father and above all the creator of the universe. The reply is that one who is vāsudeva-parāyaṇa, or seriously engaged in the devotional service of the Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva, need not care for any other obligation. It is enjoined in the Bhāgavatam (11.5.41, Not yet available in the library. Try the live source.):
- devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛṇāṁ pitṟṇāṁ
- na kiṅkaro nāyam ṛṇī ca rājan
- sarvātmanā yaḥ śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyaṁ
- gato mukundaṁ parihṛtya kartam
"Anyone who has completely given up all worldly relationships and has taken absolute shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord, who gives us salvation and who alone is fit to be taken shelter of, is no longer a debtor or servant of anyone, including the demigods, forefathers, sages, other living entities, relatives, and members of human society." Thus there was nothing wrong in the acts of the Kumāras when they refused their great father's request that they become family men.