Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.8.18

nṛtya-vāditra-gītāni

juṣan grāmyāṇi yoṣitām

āsāḿ krīḍanako vaśya

ṛṣyaśṛńgo mṛgī-sutaḥ

SYNONYMS

nṛtya — dancing; vāditra — musical performance; gītāni — songs; juṣan — cultivating; grāmyāni — related to sense gratification; yoṣitām — of women; āsām — of them; krīḍanakaḥ — a plaything; vaśyaḥ — fully controlled; ṛṣya-śṛńgaḥ — the sage Ṛṣyaśṛńga; mṛgī-sutaḥ — son of Mṛgī

TRANSLATION

Becoming attracted to the worldly singing, dancing and musical entertainment of beautiful women, even the great sage Ṛṣyaśṛńga, the son of Mṛgī, fell totally under their control, just like a pet animal.

PURPORT

Ṛṣyaśṛńga, the young son of the sage Mṛgī, was intentionally brought up by his father in an atmosphere of complete innocence. Mṛgī Ṛṣi thought that if his son were never exposed to the sight of women he would always remain a perfect brahmacārī. But by chance the inhabitants of the neighboring kingdom, who were suffering from a long-term drought, received divine advice that rain would return to their kingdom only after the brāhmaṇa named Ṛṣyaśṛńga stepped foot in it. Therefore they sent beautiful women to the hermitage of Mṛgī to entice Ṛṣyaśṛńga and bring him back with them. Since Ṛṣyaśṛńga had never even heard about women, he easily fell for their trap.

The name Ṛṣyaśṛńga indicates that the young sage was born with a deerlike horn growing out of his forehead. If like the deer a ṛṣi becomes attracted to sweet musical sounds promising sense gratification, then like the deer he is quickly vanquished. A thoughtful person should humbly take instruction from the deer, who is doomed by attraction to musical sense gratification.

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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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