SB 9.8.16 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

असमञ्जस आत्मानं दर्शयन्नसमञ्जसम् । जातिस्मर: पुरा सङ्गाद् योगी योगाद् विचालित: ॥ १५ ॥ आचरन् गर्हितं लोके ज्ञातीनां कर्म विप्रियम् । सरय्वां क्रीडतो बालान्प्रास्यदुद्वेजयञ्जनम् ॥ १६ ॥

Verse text

asamaṣjasa ātmānaṁ darśayann asamaṣjasam jāti-smaraḥ purā saṅgād yogī yogād vicālitaḥ ācaran garhitaṁ loke jṣātīnāṁ karma vipriyam sarayvāṁ krīḍato bālān prāsyad udvejayaṣ janam

Synonyms

asamaṣjasaḥ — the son of Sagara Mahārāja ; ātmānam — personally ; darśayan — exhibiting ; asamaṣjasam — very disturbing ; jāti — smaraḥ — able to remember his past life ; purā — formerly ; saṅgāt — from bad association ; yogī — although he was a great mystic yogī ; yogāt — from the path of executing mystic yoga ; vicālitaḥ — fell down ; ācaran — behaving ; garhitam — very badly ; loke — in the society ; jṣātīnām — of his relatives ; karma — activities ; vipriyam — not very favorable ; sarayvām — in the river Sarayū ; krīḍataḥ — while engaged in sports ; bālān — all the boys ; prāsyat — would throw ; udvejayan — giving trouble ; janam — to people in general .

Translation

Formerly, in his previous birth, Asamaṣjasa had been a great mystic yogī, but by bad association he had fallen from his exalted position. Now, in this life, he was born in a royal family and was a jāti-smara; that is, he had the special advantage of being able to remember his past birth. Nonetheless, he wanted to display himself as a miscreant, and therefore he would do things that were abominable in the eyes of the public and unfavorable to his relatives. He would disturb the boys sporting in the river Sarayū by throwing them into the depths of the water.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Formerly, in his previous birth, Asamaṣjasa had been a yogī, but by bad association he had fallen from his position. He was able to remember his past birth. Nonetheless, he wanted to display himself as a miscreant, and therefore he would do things that were abominable in the eyes of the public and unfavorable to his relatives. He would afflict the people and would throw playing boys into the River Sarayū. In a previous birth he had fallen from yoga. He performed condemned acts in this life to avoid bad association.