SB 9.20.22 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

रेतोधा: पुत्रो नयति नरदेव यमक्षयात् । त्वं चास्य धाता गर्भस्य सत्यमाह शकुन्तला ॥ २२ ॥

Verse text

reto-dhāḥ putro nayati naradeva yama-kṣayāt tvaṁ cāsya dhātā garbhasya satyam āha śakuntalā

Synonyms

retaḥ — dhāḥ — a person who discharges semen ; putraḥ — the son ; nayati — saves ; nara — deva — O King (Mahārāja Duṣmanta) ; yama — kṣayāt — from punishment by Yamarāja, or from the custody of Yamarāja ; tvam — your good self ; ca — and ; asya — of this child ; dhātā — the creator ; garbhasya — of the embryo ; satyam — truthfully ; āha — said ; śakuntalā — your wife, Śakuntalā .

Translation

O King Duṣmanta, he who discharges semen is the actual father, and his son saves him from the custody of Yamarāja. You are the actual procreator of this child. Indeed, Śakuntalā is speaking the truth.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

O King! The son saves the father who caused impregnation from going to the abode of Yamarāja. You are the actual procreator of this child. Śakuntalā speaks the truth. You are the impregnator, the maker of a dynasty (retodhā). Or it can refer to the legitimate son, who holds the father’s semen in the form of his body. That son delivers the father from the abode of Yama. Smṛti says punnāmno narakād yasmāt pitaraṁ trāyate sutaḥ tasmāt putra iti proktaḥ svayam eva svayambhuvaḥ The son is called putra because he delivers the father from the hell called “put.” Brahmā himself has said this. Manu Smṛti 9.138 Another version has putram. The meaning is then “When there is a dispute between a mother and father for attaining a son, the father, the impregnator, being righteous, brings the child from the abode of the definer of truth into this world. The mother does not do so.” After this, the King accepted his wife and child.

Purport

Upon hearing the omen, Mahārāja Duṣmanta accepted his wife and child. According to Vedic smṛti: pun-nāmno narakād yasmāt pitaraṁ trāyate sutaḥ tasmāt putra iti proktaḥ svayam eva svayambhuvā Because a son delivers his father from punishment in the hell called put, the son is called putra. According to this principle, when there is a disagreement between the father and mother, it is the father, not the mother, who is delivered by the son. But if the wife is faithful and firmly adherent to her husband, when the father is delivered the mother is also delivered. Consequently, there is no such thing as divorce in the Vedic literature. A wife is always trained to be chaste and faithful to her husband, for this helps her achieve deliverance from any abominable material condition. This verse clearly says, putro nayati naradeva yama-kṣayāt: “The son saves his father from the custody of Yamarāja.” It never says, putro nayati mātaram: “The son saves his mother.” The seed-giving father is delivered, not the storekeeper mother. Consequently, husband and wife should not separate under any condition, for if they have a child whom they raise to be a Vaiṣṇava, he can save both the father and mother from the custody of Yamarāja and punishment in hellish life.