SB 6.1.24

TEXT 24

TEXT

तस्य प्रवयसः पुत्रा दश तेषां तु यो ऽवमः ।
बालो नारायणो नाम्ना पित्रोश्च दयितो भृशम् ॥ २४ ॥

tasya pravayasah putra

dasa tesam tu yo 'vamah

balo narayano namna

pitros ca dayito bhrsam

tasya-of him (Ajamila); pravayasah-who was very old; putrah-sons; dasa-ten; tesam-of all of them; tu-but; yah-the one who; avamah-the youngest; balah-child; narayanah-Narayana; namna-by name; pitroh-of the father and mother; ca-and; dayitah-dear; bhrsam-very.

TRANSLATION

That old man Ajamila had ten sons, of whom the youngest was a baby named Narayana. Since Narayana was the youngest of all the sons, he was naturally very dear to both his father and his mother.

The word pravayasah indicates Ajamila's sinfulness because although he was eighty-eight years old, he had a very young child. According to Vedic culture, one should leave home as soon as he has reached fifty years of age; one should not live at home and go on producing children. Sex life is allowed for twenty-five years, between the ages of twenty-five and forty-five or, at the most, fifty. After that one should give up the habit of sex life and leave home as a vanaprastha and then properly take sannyasa. Ajamila, however, because of his association with a prostitute, lost all brahminical culture and became most sinful, even in his so-called household life.