TEXT 37
rnais tribhir amuktanam
amimamsita-karmanam
vighatah sreyasah papa
lokayor ubhayoh krtah
SYNONYMS
rnaihfrom the debts; tribhihthree; amuktanamof persons not freed; amimamsitanot considering; karmanamthe path of duty; vighatahruin; sreyasahof the path of good fortune; papaO most sinful (Narada Muni); lokayohof the worlds; ubhayohboth; krtahdone.
TRANSLATION
Prajapati Daksa said: My sons were not at all freed from their three debts. Indeed, they did not properly consider their obligations. O Narada Muni, O personality of sinful action, you have obstructed their progress toward good fortune in this world and the next because they are still indebted to the saintly persons, the demigods and their father.
PURPORT
As soon as a brahmana takes birth, he assumes three kinds of debtsdebts to great saints, debts to the demigods and debts to his father. The son of a brahmana must undergo celibacy (brahmacarya) to clear his debts to the saintly persons, he must perform ritualistic ceremonies to clear his debts to the demigods, and he must beget children to become free from his debts to his father. Prajapati Daksa argued that although the renounced order is recommended for liberation, one cannot attain liberation unless one fulfills his obligations to the demigods, the saints and his father. Since Daksas sons had not liberated themselves from these three debts, how could Narada Muni have led them to the renounced order of life? Apparently, Prajapati Daksa did not know the final decision of the sastras. As stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.5.41):
Everyone is indebted to the demigods, to living entities in general, to his family, to the pitas and so on, but if one fully surrenders to Krsna, Mukunda, who can give one liberation, even if one performs no yajnas, one is freed from all debts. Even if one does not repay his debts, he is freed from all debts if he renounces the material world for the sake of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose lotus feet are the shelter of everyone. This is the verdict of the sastra. Therefore Narada Muni was completely right in instructing the sons of Prajapati Daksa to renounce this material world immediately and take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Unfortunately, Prajapati Daksa, the father of the Haryasvas and Savalasvas, did not understand the great service rendered by Narada Muni. Daksa therefore addressed him as papa (the personality of sinful activities) and asadhu (a nonsaintly person). Since Narada Muni was a great saint and Vaisnava, he tolerated all such accusations from Prajapati Daksa. He merely performed his duty as a Vaisnava by delivering all the sons of Prajapati Daksa, enabling them to return home, back to Godhead.

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