Devanagari
स कदाचिदुपासीन आत्मापह्नवमात्मन: ।
ददर्श बह्वृचाचार्यो मीनसङ्गसमुत्थितम् ॥ ४९ ॥
Verse text
sa kadācid upāsīna
ātmāpahnavam ātmanaḥ
dadarśa bahv-ṛcācāryo
mīna-saṅga-samutthitam
Synonyms
saḥ
—
he, Saubhari Muni
;
kadācit
—
one day
;
upāsīnaḥ
—
sitting down
;
ātma
—
apahnavam — degrading oneself from the platform of tapasya
;
ātmanaḥ
—
self-caused
;
dadarśa
—
observed
;
bahu
—
ṛca — ācāryaḥ — Saubhari Muni, who was expert in chanting mantras
;
mīna
—
saṅga — the sexual affairs of fish
;
samutthitam
—
caused by this incident .
Translation
Thereafter, one day while Saubhari Muni, who was expert in chanting mantras, was sitting in a secluded place, he thought to himself about the cause of his falldown, which was simply that he had associated himself with the sexual affairs of the fish.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
One day while Saubhari, who was expert in chanting mantras, was sitting down, he realized his fall down had been caused by his association with some fish.
Seven verses describe how Saubhari regained his sense after enjoying, caused by an offense to Garuḍa. He realized the cause of his being cheated of the bliss of the self (ātmā apahnavam) was himself (ātmanaḥ), arising from association with fish. To protect some fish he had prevented Garuḍa from eating them.
Purport
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura remarks that Saubhari Muni had fallen from his austerity because of a
vaiṣṇava-aparādha.
The history is that when Garuḍa wanted to eat fish, Saubhari Muni unnecessarily gave the fish shelter under his care. Because Garuḍa’s plans for eating were disappointed, Saubhari Muni certainly committed a great offense to a Vaiṣṇava. Because of this
vaiṣṇava-aparādha,
an offense at the lotus feet of a Vaiṣṇava, Saubhari Muni fell from his exalted position of mystic
tapasya.
One should not, therefore, impede the activities of a Vaiṣṇava. This is the lesson we must learn from this incident concerning Saubhari Muni.