Devanagari
नारद उवाच
पुरञ्जन: स्वमहिषीं निरीक्ष्यावधुतां भुवि ।
तत्सङ्गोन्मथितज्ञानो वैक्लव्यं परमं ययौ ॥ १८ ॥
Verse text
nārada uvāca
puraṣjanaḥ sva-mahiṣīṁ
nirīkṣyāvadhutāṁ bhuvi
tat-saṅgonmathita-jṣāno
vaiklavyaṁ paramaṁ yayau
Synonyms
nāradaḥ uvāca
—
the great sage Nārada spoke
;
puraṣjanaḥ
—
King Puraṣjana
;
sva
—
mahiṣīm — his own Queen
;
nirīkṣya
—
after seeing
;
avadhutām
—
appearing like a mendicant
;
bhuvi
—
on the ground
;
tat
—
her
;
saṅga
—
by association
;
unmathita
—
encouraged
;
jṣānaḥ
—
whose knowledge
;
vaiklavyam
—
bewilderment
;
paramam
—
supreme
;
yayau
—
obtained .
Translation
The great sage Nārada continued: My dear King Prācīnabarhi, as soon as King Puraṣjana saw his Queen lying on the ground, appearing like a mendicant, he immediately became bewildered.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Nārada said: Seeing the Queen lying on the ground without regard for her body, Puraṣjana, anxious to be with her again, became miserable.
Avadhūtām means “giving up respect for the body.” Seeing that she was injured because of leaving his heart on her own, he thought, “I have committed a great offense.” Being anxious to associate again with her, he deprecated his foolishness. Vaiklayvam means miserable.
Purport
In this verse the word
avadhutām
is especially significant, for it refers to a mendicant who does not take care of his body. Since the Queen was lying on the ground without bedding and proper dress, King Puraṣjana became very much aggrieved. In other words, he repented that he had neglected his intelligence and had engaged himself in the forest in killing animals. In other words, when one’s good intelligence is separated or neglected, he fully engages in sinful activities. Due to neglecting one’s good intelligence, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one becomes bewildered and engages in sinful activities. Upon realizing this, a man becomes repentant. Such repentance is described by Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura:
hari hari viphale janama goṅāinu
manuṣya-janama pāiyā, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā,
jāniyā śuniyā viṣa khāinu
Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura herein says that he repents for having spoiled his human life and knowingly drunk poison. By not being Kṛṣṇa conscious, one willingly drinks the poison of material life. The purport is that one certainly becomes addicted to sinful activities when he becomes devoid of his good chaste wife, or when he has lost his good sense and does not take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.