SB 3.31.7 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

कटुतीक्ष्णोष्णलवणरूक्षाम्‍लादिभिरुल्बणै: । मातृभुक्तैरुपस्पृष्ट: सर्वाङ्गोत्थितवेदन: ॥ ७ ॥

Verse text

kaṭu-tīkṣṇoṣṇa-lavaṇa- rūkṣāmlādibhir ulbaṇaiḥ mātṛ-bhuktair upaspṛṣṭaḥ sarvāṅgotthita-vedanaḥ

Synonyms

kaṭu — bitter ; tīkṣṇa — pungent ; uṣṇa — hot ; lavaṇa — salty ; rūkṣa — dry ; amla — sour ; ādibhiḥ — and so on ; ulbaṇaiḥ — excessive ; mātṛ — bhuktaiḥ — by foods eaten by the mother ; upaspṛṣṭaḥ — affected ; sarva — aṅga — all over the body ; utthita — arisen ; vedanaḥ — pain .

Translation

Owing to the mother’s eating bitter, pungent foodstuffs, or food which is too salty or too sour, the body of the child incessantly suffers pains which are almost intolerable.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

All its limbs suffer from contact with the mother’s food, which is difficult to tolerate if it is too bitter, pungent, hot, salty, dry or sour. Ulbaṇaiḥ means “difficult to tolerate.”

Purport

All descriptions of the child’s bodily situation in the womb of the mother are beyond our conception. It is very difficult to remain in such a position, but still the child has to remain. Because his consciousness is not very developed, the child can tolerate it, otherwise he would die. That is the benediction of māyā, who endows the suffering body with the qualifications for tolerating such terrible tortures.