Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.23.10

devahūtir uvāca

rāddhaḿ bata dvija-vṛṣaitad amogha-yoga-

māyādhipe tvayi vibho tad avaimi bhartaḥ

yas te 'bhyadhāyi samayaḥ sakṛd ańga-sańgo

bhūyād garīyasi guṇaḥ prasavaḥ satīnām

SYNONYMS

devahūtiḥ uvāca — Devahūti said; rāddham — it has been achieved; bata — indeed; dvija-vṛṣa — O best of the brāhmaṇas; etat — this; amogha — infallible; yoga-māyā — of mystic powers; adhipe — the master; tvayi — in you; vibho — O great one; tat — that; avaimi — I know; bhartaḥ — O husband; yaḥ — that which; te — by you; abhyadhāyi — was given; samayaḥ — promise; sakṛt — once; ańga-sańgaḥ — bodily union; bhūyāt — may be; garīyasi — when very glorious; guṇaḥ — a great quality; prasavaḥ — progeny; satīnām — of chaste women.

TRANSLATION

Śrī Devahūti said: My dear husband, O best of brāhmaṇas, I know that you have achieved perfection and are the master of all the infallible mystic powers because you are under the protection of yogamāyā, the transcendental nature. But you once made a promise that our bodily union should now fulfill, since children are a great quality for a chaste woman who has a glorious husband.

PURPORT

Devahūti expressed her happiness by uttering the word bata, for she knew that her husband was in a highly elevated, transcendental position and was under the shelter of yogamāyā. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā, those who are great souls, mahātmās, are not under the control of the material energy. The Supreme Lord has two energies, material and spiritual. The living entities are marginal energy. As marginal energy, a person may be under the control of the material energy or the spiritual energy (yogamāyā). Kardama Muni was a great soul, and therefore he was under the spiritual energy, which means that he was directly connected with the Supreme Lord. The symptom of this is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, constant engagement in devotional service. This was known to Devahūti, yet she was anxious to have a son by bodily union with the sage. She reminded her husband of his promise to her parents: "I will remain only until the time of Devahūti's pregnancy." She reminded him that for a chaste woman to have a child by a great personality is most glorious. She wanted to be pregnant, and she prayed for that. The word strī means "expansion." By bodily union of the husband and wife their qualities are expanded: children born of good parents are expansions of the parents' personal qualifications. Both Kardama Muni and Devahūti were spiritually enlightened; therefore she desired from the beginning that first she be pregnant and then she be empowered with the achievement of God's grace and love of God. For a woman it is a great ambition to have a son of the same quality as a highly qualified husband. Since she had the opportunity to have Kardama Muni as her husband, she also desired to have a child by bodily union.

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