Canto 10: The Summum Bonum | Chapter 56: The Syamantaka Jewel |
Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.56.11
dine dine svarṇa-bhārān
aṣṭau sa sṛjati prabho
durbhikṣa-māry-ariṣṭāni
sarpādhi-vyādhayo 'śubhāḥ
na santi māyinas tatra
yatrāste 'bhyarcito maṇiḥ
SYNONYMS
dine dine — day after day; svarṇa — of gold; bhārān — bhāras (a measure of weight); aṣṭau — eight; saḥ — it; sṛjati — would produce; prabho — O master (Parīkṣit Mahārāja); durbhikṣa — famine; māri — untimely deaths; ariṣṭāni — catastrophes; sarpa — snake (bites); ādhi — mental disorders; vyādhayaḥ — diseases; aśubhāḥ — inauspicious; na santi — there are none; māyinaḥ — cheaters; tatra — there; yatra — where; āste — it is present; abhyarcitaḥ — properly worshiped; maṇiḥ — the gem.
TRANSLATION
Each day the gem would produce eight bhāras of gold, my dear Prabhu, and the place in which it was kept and properly worshiped would be free of calamities such as famine or untimely death, and also of evils like snake bites, mental and physical disorders and the presence of deceitful persons.
PURPORT
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī gives the following śāstric reference concerning the bhāra:
caturbhir vrīhibhir guñjāḿ
guñjāḥ pañca paṇaḿ paṇān
aṣṭau dharaṇam aṣṭau ca
karṣaḿ tāḿś caturaḥ palam
tulāḿ pala-śataḿ prāhur
bhāraḥ syād viḿśatis tulāḥ
"Four rice grains are called one guñjā; five guñjās, one paṇa; eight paṇas, one karṣa; four karṣas, one pala; and one hundred palas, one tulā. Twenty tulās make up one bhāra." Since there are about 3,700 grains of rice in an ounce, the Syamantaka jewel was producing approximately 170 pounds of gold every day.
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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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