2011-03-04Srimad Bhagavatam 09.15.07-10 - Simplicity And Satisfaction Of Heart Gives Happiness (download mp3)
by Sridama Prabhu at ISKCON Chowpatty
www.iskcondesiretree.net
SB 9.15.7
ity uktas tan-matam jñatva
gatah sa varunantikam
aniya dattva tan asvan
upayeme varananam
Translation:
When King Gadhi made this demand, the great sage Rcika could understand the King's mind. Therefore he went to the demigod Varuna and brought from him the one thousand horses that Gadhi had demanded. After delivering these horses, the sage married the King's beautiful daughter.
SB 9.15.8
sa rsih prarthitah patnya
svasrva capatya-kamyaya
srapayitvobhayair mantrais
carum snatum gato munih
Translation:
Thereafter, Rcika Muni's wife and mother-in-law, each desiring a son, requested the Muni to prepare an oblation. Thus Rcika Muni prepared one oblation for his wife with a brahmana mantra and another for his mother-in-law with a ksatriya mantra. Then he went out to bathe.
SB 9.15.9
tavat satyavati matra
sva-carum yacita sati
srestham matva tayayacchan
matre matur adat svayam
Translation:
Meanwhile, because Satyavati's mother thought that the oblation prepared for her daughter, Rcika's wife, must be better, she asked her daughter for that oblation. Satyavati therefore gave her own oblation to her mother and ate her mother's oblation herself.
Purport:
A husband naturally has some affection for his wife. Therefore Satyavati's mother thought that the oblation prepared for Satyavati by the sage Rcika must have been better than her own oblation. In Rcika's absence, the mother took the better oblation from Satyavati and ate it.
SB 9.15.10
tad viditva munih praha
patnim kastam akarasih
ghoro danda-dharah putro
bhrata te brahma-vittamah
Translation:
When the great sage Rcika returned home after bathing and understood what had happened in his absence, he said to his wife, Satyavati, "You have done a great wrong. Your son will be a fierce ksatriya, able to punish everyone, and your brother will be a learned scholar in spiritual science."
Purport:
A brahmana is highly qualified when he can control his senses and mind, when he is a learned scholar in spiritual science and when he is tolerant and forgiving. A ksatriya, however, is highly qualified when he is fierce in giving punishment to wrongdoers. These qualities are stated in Bhagavad-gita (18.42-43). Because Satyavati, instead of eating her own oblation, had eaten that which was meant for her mother, she would give birth to a son imbued with the ksatriya spirit. This was undesirable. The son of a brahmana is generally expected to become a brahmana, but if such a son becomes fierce like a ksatriya, he is designated according to the description of the four varnas in Bhagavad-gita (catur-varnyam maya srstam guna-karma-vibhagasah [Bg. 4.13]). If the son of a brahmana does not become like a brahmana, he may be called a ksatriya, vaisya or sudra, according to his qualifications. The basic principle for dividing society is not a person's birth but his qualities and actions.
