SB 6.1.26 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

भुञ्जान: प्रपिबन् खादन् बालकं स्‍नेहयन्त्रित: । भोजयन् पाययन् मूढो न वेदागतमन्तकम् ॥ २६ ॥

Verse text

bhuṣjānaḥ prapiban khādan bālakaṁ sneha-yantritaḥ bhojayan pāyayan mūḍho na vedāgatam antakam

Synonyms

bhuṣjānaḥ — while eating ; prapiban — while drinking ; khādan — while chewing ; bālakam — unto the child ; sneha — yantritaḥ — being attached by affection ; bhojayan — feeding ; pāyayan — giving something to drink ; mūḍhaḥ — the foolish man ; na — not ; veda — understood ; āgatam — had arrived ; antakam — death .

Translation

When Ajāmila chewed food and ate it, he called the child to chew and eat, and when he drank he called the child to drink also. Always engaged in taking care of the child and calling his name, Nārāyaṇa, Ajāmila could not understand that his own time was now exhausted and that death was upon him.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

While eating, drinking and chewing, out of affection he would feed the child and make him drink. The foolish man did not know that death had arrived. Khādan means chewing.

Purport

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is kind to the conditioned soul. Although this man completely forgot Nārāyaṇa, he was calling his child, saying, “Nārāyaṇa, please come eat this food. Nārāyaṇa, please come drink this milk.” Somehow or other, therefore, he was attached to the name Nārāyaṇa. This is called ajṣāta-sukṛti. Although calling for his son, he was unknowingly chanting the name of Nārāyaṇa, and the holy name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is so transcendentally powerful that his chanting was being counted and recorded.