Devanagari
ऋणैस्त्रिभिरमुक्तानाममीमांसितकर्मणाम् ।
विघात: श्रेयस: पाप लोकयोरुभयो: कृत: ॥ ३७ ॥
Verse text
ṛṇais tribhir amuktānām
amīmāṁsita-karmaṇām
vighātaḥ śreyasaḥ pāpa
lokayor ubhayoḥ kṛtaḥ
Synonyms
ṛṇaiḥ
—
from the debts
;
tribhiḥ
—
three
;
amuktānām
—
of persons not freed
;
amīmāṁsita
—
not considering
;
karmaṇām
—
the path of duty
;
vighātaḥ
—
ruin
;
śreyasaḥ
—
of the path of good fortune
;
pāpa
—
O most sinful (Nārada Muni)
;
lokayoḥ
—
of the worlds
;
ubhayoḥ
—
both
;
kṛtaḥ
—
done .
Translation
Prajāpati Dakṣa said: My sons were not at all freed from their three debts. Indeed, they did not properly consider their obligations. O Nārada Muni, O personality of sinful action, you have obstructed their progress toward good fortune in this world and the next because they are still indebted to the saintly persons, the demigods and their father.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
My sons were not at all freed from their three debts. They did not properly consider their obligations. O sinful Nārada! You have obstructed their progress toward good fortune in this world and the next.
“By taking to renunciation, it is possible to cross over saṁsāra. But renunciation is not suitable for persons in household life to follow.” Śruti says:
jāyamāno ha vai brāhmaṇas tribhir ṛṇavān jāyate
brahmacaryeṇa ṛṣibhyo, yajṣena devebhyaḥ
prajayā pitṛbhyaḥ, eṣa vā anṛṇo
yaḥ putrī yajṣakṛt brahmacārī vāpi
The brāhmaṇa has three debts by birth. By brahmacārya one repays the sages, by sacrifice one repays the devatās and by producing offspring one repays the Pitṛs. He who has sons, performs sacrifice and observes brahmacārī life has no debts. Vāsiṣṭha-dharma-śāstra
My sons did not repay their debts and did not consider their karmas. They are not free from debts to the sages yet. They are not free from debts to the devatās and Pitṛs since they will not produce children or perform sacrifice. O sinner! Killer of trust! Because of renouncing material enjoyment (without paying their debts), their fortune in this life has been ruined. Fortune in next life is also ruined, because they have taken to renunciation without being qualified.
Manu says:
ṛṇāni trīṇy apākṛtya mano mokṣe niveśayet
anapākṛtya mokṣan tu sevamāno vrajaty adhaḥ
Having paid one’s three debts, the mind should enter into liberation. Not paying those debts and practicing for liberation, a person goes to hell. Manu Smṛti 6.35
Purport
As soon as a
brāhmaṇa
takes birth, he assumes three kinds of debts — debts to great saints, debts to the demigods and debts to his father. The son of a
brāhmaṇa
must undergo celibacy (
brahmacarya
) to clear his debts to the saintly persons, he must perform ritualistic ceremonies to clear his debts to the demigods, and he must beget children to become free from his debts to his father. Prajāpati Dakṣa argued that although the renounced order is recommended for liberation, one cannot attain liberation unless one fulfills his obligations to the demigods, the saints and his father. Since Dakṣa’s sons had not liberated themselves from these three debts, how could Nārada Muni have led them to the renounced order of life? Apparently, Prajāpati Dakṣa did not know the final decision of the
śāstras.
As stated in
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
(11.5.41)
:
devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛṇāṁ pitṝṇāṁ
na kiṅkaro nāyam ṛṇī ca rājan
sarvātmanā yaḥ śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyaṁ
gato mukundaṁ parihṛtya kartam
Everyone is indebted to the demigods, to living entities in general, to his family, to the
pitās
and so on, but if one fully surrenders to Kṛṣṇa, Mukunda, who can give one liberation, even if one performs no
yajṣas,
one is freed from all debts. Even if one does not repay his debts, he is freed from all debts if he renounces the material world for the sake of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose lotus feet are the shelter of everyone. This is the verdict of the
śāstra.
Therefore Nārada Muni was completely right in instructing the sons of Prajāpati Dakṣa to renounce this material world immediately and take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Unfortunately, Prajāpati Dakṣa, the father of the Haryaśvas and Savalāśvas, did not understand the great service rendered by Nārada Muni. Dakṣa therefore addressed him as
pāpa
(the personality of sinful activities) and
asādhu
(a nonsaintly person). Since Nārada Muni was a great saint and Vaiṣṇava, he tolerated all such accusations from Prajāpati Dakṣa. He merely performed his duty as a Vaiṣṇava by delivering all the sons of Prajāpati Dakṣa, enabling them to return home, back to Godhead.