Canto 6: Prescribed Duties for MankindChapter 14: King Citraketu's Lamentation

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 6.14.54

aho vidhātas tvam atīva bāliśo

yas tv ātma-sṛṣṭy-apratirūpam īhase

pare nu jīvaty aparasya yā mṛtir

viparyayaś cet tvam asi dhruvaḥ paraḥ

SYNONYMS

aho — alas (in great lamentation); vidhātaḥO Providence; tvam — You; atīva — very much; bāliśaḥ — inexperienced; yaḥ — who; tu — indeed; ātma-sṛṣṭi — of Your own creation; apratirūpam — just the opposite; īhase — You are performing and desiring; pare — while the father or the elder; nu — indeed; jīvati — is living; aparasya — of one who was born later; — which; mṛtiḥ — death; viparyayaḥ — contradictory; cet — if; tvam — You; asiare; dhruvaḥ — indeed; paraḥan enemy.

TRANSLATION

Alas, O Providence, O Creator, You are certainly inexperienced in creation, for during the lifetime of a father You have caused the death of his son, thus acting in opposition to Your creative laws. If You are determined to contradict these laws, You are certainly the enemy of living entities and are never merciful.

PURPORT

This is the way a conditioned soul condemns the supreme creator when he meets reverses. Sometimes he accuses the Supreme Personality of Godhead of being crooked because some people are happy and some are not. Here the Queen blames supreme providence for her son's death. Following the creative laws, a father should die first and then his son. If the creative laws are changed according to the whims of providence, then providence certainly should not be considered merciful, but must be considered inimical to the created being. Actually it is not the creator, but the conditioned soul who is inexperienced. He does not know how the subtle laws of fruitive activity work, and without knowledge of these laws of nature, he ignorantly criticizes the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

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