SB 6.5.42 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

यन्नस्त्वं कर्मसन्धानां साधूनां गृहमेधिनाम् । कृतवानसि दुर्मर्षं विप्रियं तव मर्षितम् ॥ ४२ ॥

Verse text

yan nas tvaṁ karma-sandhānāṁ sādhūnāṁ gṛhamedhinām kṛtavān asi durmarṣaṁ vipriyaṁ tava marṣitam

Synonyms

yat — which ; naḥ — unto us ; tvam — you ; karma — sandhānām — who strictly follow the fruitive ritualistic ceremonies according to Vedic injunctions ; sādhūnām — who are honest (because we honestly seek elevated social standards and bodily comfort) ; gṛha — medhinām — although situated with a wife and children ; kṛtavān asi — have created ; durmarṣam — unbearable ; vipriyam — wrong ; tava — your ; marṣitam — forgiven .

Translation

Although I live in household life with my wife and children, I honestly follow the Vedic injunctions by engaging in fruitive activities to enjoy life without sinful reactions. I have performed all kinds of yajṣas, including the deva-yajṣa, ṛṣi-yajṣa, pitṛ-yajṣa and nṛ-yajṣa. Because these yajṣas are called vratas [vows], I am known as a gṛhavrata. Unfortunately, you have given me great displeasure by misguiding my sons, for no reason, to the path of renunciation. This can be tolerated once.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

You can be forgiven once for causing such intolerable harm to an honest householder following the rules of karma. I can give four times the result for whatever causeless enmity you have shown to me. But I will not do that. See my tolerance as a householder. I follow the rules (sandhānām) on the path of karma. Another version has kartum andhānām. This means “I do not know how to act inimically to others.” I forgive (marṣitam) you, who are unworthy of the renounced order, intent on doing harm to others, who have broken the rules of jṣāna and bhakti, for your intolerable offense.

Purport

Prajāpati Dakṣa wanted to prove that he had been most tolerant in not having said anything when Nārada Muni, for no reason, induced his ten thousand innocent sons to adopt the path of renunciation. Sometimes householders are accused of being gṛhamedhīs, for gṛhamedhīs are satisfied with family life without spiritual advancement. Gṛhasthas, however, are different because although gṛhasthas live in householder life with their wives and children, they are eager for spiritual advancement. Wanting to prove that he had been magnanimous to Nārada Muni, Prajāpati Dakṣa stressed that when Nārada had misled his first sons, Dakṣa had taken no action; he had been kind and tolerant. He was aggrieved, however, because Nārada Muni had misled his sons for a second time. Therefore he wanted to prove that Nārada Muni, although dressed like a sādhu, was not actually a sādhu; he himself, although a householder, was a greater sādhu than Nārada Muni.