Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 9.4.1

śrī-śuka uvāca

nābhāgo nabhagāpatyam

yam tatam bhrātarah kavim

yavishtham vyabhajan dāyam

brahmacārinam āgatam

SYNONYMS

śrī-śukah uvāca — Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said; nābhāgah — Nābhāga; nabhaga-apatyam — was the son of Mahārāja Nabhaga; yam — unto whom; tatam — the father; bhrātarah — the elder brothers; kavim — the learned; yavishtham — the youngest; vyabhajan — divided; dāyam — the property; brahmacārinam — having accepted the life of a brahmacārī perpetually (naishthika); āgatam — returned.

TRANSLATION

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: The son of Nabhaga named Nābhāga lived for a long time at the place of his spiritual master. Therefore, his brothers thought that he was not going to become a grihastha and would not return. Consequently, without providing a share for him, they divided the property of their father among themselves. When Nābhāga returned from the place of his spiritual master, they gave him their father as his share.

PURPORT

There are two kinds of brahmacārīs. One may return home, marry and become a householder, whereas the other, known as brihad-vrata, takes a vow to remain a brahmacārī perpetually. The brihad-vrata brahmacārī does not return from the place of the spiritual master; he stays there, and later he directly takes sannyāsa. Because Nābhāga did not return from the place of his spiritual master, his brothers thought that he had taken brihadvrata-brahmacarya. Therefore, they did not preserve his share, and when he returned they gave him their father as his share.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness