Śrīmad Bhāgavata 1.11.39

Synonyms

mūḍhāḥ — the ignorant; abalāḥ — wives [tat-patnyaḥ¹³²]; apramāṇa-vidaḥ — being unaware of the supreme glory [iyattāṁ mahimānaṁ ajānantyaḥ¹³³]; bhartuḥ — of their husband; menire — considered; tam — Him [Śrī Kṛṣṇa]; īśvaram — Īśvara; straiṇam — to be under their control [(ātma-vaśyam); under the control of womanly love (strī-mātra-bhāva-vaśyam)¹³⁴]; ca — and; anuvratam — devoted [to them (anusṛtam)]; rahaḥ — in private [ekānte]; yathā — just as; matayaḥ — [people’s] mental ideations [the notions of “I” (ahaṁ-vṛttayaḥ)]; [conceive (menire) of Īśvara, the Supreme Witness (kṣetrajñam) as being subject to them (svādhīnam) and as partaking of their characteristics (sva-dharma-yoginam)¹³⁵].

The ignorant wives, being unaware of the supreme glory of their husband, considered Him, Īśvara, to be under their control and devoted to them in private, just as people’s mental ideations conceive of Īśvara [as being subject to them and as partaking of their characteristics].

Notes

132Giridhara.↩

133Unless otherwise indicated, this and the remaining bracketed inserts in verse 39 are Śrīdhara Svāmī’s comments.↩

134Viśvanātha Cakravartī.↩

135Śrīdhara Svāmī gives an alternative interpretation of the verse by taking the words yathā matayaḥ, “according to their own convictions” (yathā kalpanāḥ), as qualifying the wives (abalāḥ). The translation would thus be as follows: “The ignorant wives, being unaware of the supreme glory of their husband, considered Him, Īśvara, to be under their control and devoted to them in private, in accordance with their own convictions.” Most of the other Bhāgavata commentators have interpreted the words yathā matayaḥ as meaning “according to the mental constructs (buddhi-vṛttayaḥ) of the philosophers.” In this case, the second line of the verse would be interpreted in the following manner: “… just as (yathā) the mental constructs (matayaḥ) of the philosophers, who are ignorant of the Veda as the authoritative means of valid knowing (a-pramāṇa-vidaḥ), conceive (menire) of Īśvara, either as the material cause of the cosmos or as its efficient cause, as saguṇa or as nirguṇa, as a doer or as a non-doer, each in accordance with their own privileged view.”↩

SB 1.11.39

Synonyms

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