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

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 6.14.56

tvaḿ tāta nārhasi ca māḿ kṛpaṇām anāthāḿ

tyaktuḿ vicakṣva pitaraḿ tava śoka-taptam

añjas tarema bhavatāpraja-dustaraḿ yad

dhvāntaḿ na yāhy akaruṇena yamena dūram

SYNONYMS

tvam — you; tāta — my dear son; na — not; arhasi — ought; ca — and; māmme; kṛpaṇām — very poor; anāthām — without a protector; tyaktumto give up; vicakṣva — look; pitaram — at the father; tava — your; śoka-taptam — affected by so much lamentation; añjaḥ — easily; tarema — we can cross; bhavatā — by you; apraja-dustaram — very difficult to cross for one without a son; yat — which; dhvāntam — the kingdom of darkness; na yāhido not go away; akaruṇena — merciless; yamena — with Yamarāja; dūram — any further.

TRANSLATION

My dear son, I am helpless and very much aggrieved. You should not give up my company. Just look at your lamenting father. We are helpless because without a son we shall have to suffer the distress of going to the darkest hellish regions. You are the only hope by which we can get out of these dark regions. Therefore I request you not to go any further with the merciless Yama.

PURPORT

According to the Vedic injunctions, one must accept a wife just to beget a son who can deliver one from the clutches of Yamarāja. Unless one has a son to offer oblations to the pitās, or forefathers, one must suffer in Yamarāja's kingdom. King Citraketu was very much aggrieved. thinking that because his son was going away with Yamarāja he himself would again suffer. The subtle laws exist for the karmīs; if one becomes a devotee, he has no more obligations to the laws of karma.

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