Devanagari
यष्टव्यं राजसूयेन दिक्चक्रजयिना विभो ।
अतो जरासुतजय उभयार्थो मतो मम ॥ ३ ॥
Verse text
yaṣṭavyam rājasūyena
dik-cakra-jayinā vibho
ato jarā-suta-jaya
ubhayārtho mato mama
Synonyms
yaṣṭavyam
—
sacrifice should be performed
;
rājasūyena
—
with the Rājasūya ritual
;
dik
—
of directions
;
cakra
—
the complete circle
;
jayinā
—
by one who has conquered
;
vibho
—
O almighty one
;
ataḥ
—
therefore
;
jarā
—
suta — of the son of Jarā
;
jayaḥ
—
the conquest
;
ubhaya
—
both
;
arthaḥ
—
having the purposes
;
mataḥ
—
opinion
;
mama
—
my .
Translation
Only one who has conquered all opponents in every direction can perform the Rājasūya sacrifice, O almighty one. Thus, in my opinion, conquering Jarāsandha will serve both purposes.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Only one who has conquered all opponents in every direction can perform the Rājasūya sacrifice, O almighty one. Thus, in my opinion, conquering Jarāsandha will serve both purposes.
KB 10.71.3
“Both purposes can be served if we understand the whole situation. Unless we are victorious over all the kings, no one can perform this Rājasūya sacrifice. In other words, it is to be understood that King Yudhiṣṭhira cannot perform this great sacrifice without gaining victory over the belligerent King Jarāsandha. The Rājasūya sacrifice can be performed only by one who has gained victory over all directions. Therefore, to execute both purposes, we first have to kill Jarāsandha. I think that if we can somehow or other gain victory over Jarāsandha, all our purposes will automatically be served.
Purport
Śrī Uddhava here explains that only one who has conquered all directions is entitled to perform the Rājasūya sacrifice. Therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa should immediately accept the invitation to participate in the sacrifice, but then He should arrange to kill Jarāsandha as a necessary prerequisite. In this way the kings’ request for protection would be fulfilled automatically. If the Lord would thus adhere to a single policy — namely, seeing that the Rājasūya sacrifice was performed properly — all purposes would be fulfilled.
According to Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in his
Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu,
one of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s qualities is
catura,
“clever,” which means that He can perform various types of work at the same time. Thus the Lord could certainly have solved the dilemma of how to simultaneously satisfy King Yudhiṣṭhira’s desire to perform the Rājasūya sacrifice and the imprisoned kings’ desire for freedom. But Kṛṣṇa wanted to give His dear devotee Uddhava the credit for the solution, and thus He pretended to be perplexed.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The best plan is if both acts are accomplished by one act. That is expressed in this verse. Both purposes, completion of the raja suya sacrifice and protecting the kings are accomplished by defeating Jarasandha. Unless one conquers all directions one cannot perform the raja suya sacrifice. Without killing Jarasandha one cannot be the conquerer of all direction. First you should accept the invitation to the rajasuya sacrifice. Accepting the request for protection of the kings however, will assist in achieving success of the sacrifice. One action will accomplish both ends.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
“But you should first go to save the kings since they have first petitioned you and are about to die. The sacrifice can be done later.” One who has conquered everywhere can perform the ṛājasūya sacrifice. Thus defeating Jarāsandha with the desire to perform the sacrifice will serve both purposes. “It will be difficult to conquer him.” It will be easy since you have power (vibho). The name Jarā-suta indicates that he remembered how Jarāsandha was joined together by Jarā, and could be killed by pulling him apart. Therefore for the sacrifice, first go and kill Jarāsandha.