Devanagari
भूयादघोनि भगवद्भिरकारि दण्डो
यो नौ हरेत सुरहेलनमप्यशेषम् ।
मा वोऽनुतापकलया भगवत्स्मृतिघ्नो
मोहो भवेदिह तु नौ व्रजतोरधोऽध: ॥ ३६ ॥
Verse text
bhūyād aghoni bhagavadbhir akāri daṇḍo
yo nau hareta sura-helanam apy aśeṣam
mā vo ’nutāpa-kalayā bhagavat-smṛti-ghno
moho bhaved iha tu nau vrajator adho ’dhaḥ
Synonyms
bhūyāt
—
let it be
;
aghoni
—
for the sinful
;
bhagavadbhiḥ
—
by you
;
akāri
—
was done
;
daṇḍaḥ
—
punishment
;
yaḥ
—
that which
;
nau
—
in relation to us
;
hareta
—
should destroy
;
sura
—
helanam — disobeying great demigods
;
api
—
certainly
;
aśeṣam
—
unlimited
;
mā
—
not
;
vaḥ
—
of you
;
anutāpa
—
repentance
;
kalayā
—
by a little
;
bhagavat
—
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
smṛti
—
ghnaḥ — destroying the memory of
;
mohaḥ
—
illusion
;
bhavet
—
should be
;
iha
—
in the foolish species of life
;
tu
—
but
;
nau
—
of us
;
vrajatoḥ
—
who are going
;
adhaḥ adhaḥ
—
down to the material world .
Translation
After being cursed by the sages, the doormen said: It is quite apt that you have punished us for neglecting to respect sages like you. But we pray that due to your compassion at our repentance, the illusion of forgetting the Supreme Personality of Godhead will not come upon us as we go progressively downward.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Let the punishment prescribed by you to me, an offender, bear fruit. It will deliver us from unlimited offense to the devotees. By a little repentance caused by your mercy, may we not lose memory of the Lord under illusion, though we fall into the material world!
The Kumāras thought, “We have offended the Lord, because we have cursed two devotees of the Lord. Oh! What shall we do? We have been conquered by anger. Our perpetual identity as peaceful saints has been destroyed in Vaikuṇṭha!” Repenting their action, they spoke to each of the door keepers individually. Thus the singular number is used (aghoni). Let the punishment given by you to me, an offender (aghoni), remain (bhuyāt). I think of the curse as a blessing. The verb is in the benedictive form. The Kumāras then spoke to both and they replied. That punishment should destroy the offense committed in Vaikuṇṭha to the Lord and yourselves---caused by disrespect to you, by conducting ourselves against the desires of the Lord, and by showing anger, which should not be expressed in Vaikuṇṭha. But we have shown remorse, caused by your mercy. By that speck of remorse, though we fall into the material world, let us not have the illusion of forgetting the Lord! Illusion in the form of obstacles to remembering how to serve the Lord would certainly occur. Thought the curse should not be undone. Therefore, let us be bewildered, but let that bewilderment produce remembrance of the Lord. They prayed that at least they would not forget the Lord.
Purport
To a devotee, any heavy punishment is tolerable but the one which effects forgetfulness of the Supreme Lord. The doormen, who were also devotees, could understand the punishment meted out to them, for they were conscious of the great offense they had committed by not allowing the sages to enter Vaikuṇṭhaloka. In the lowest species of life, including the animal species, forgetfulness of the Lord is very prominent. The doormen were aware that they were going to the criminal department of the material world, and they expected that they might go to the lowest species and forget the Supreme Lord. They prayed, therefore, that this might not happen in the lives they were going to accept because of the curse. In
Bhagavad-gītā,
Sixteenth Chapter, verses 19 and 20, it is said that those who are envious of the Lord and His devotees are thrown into the species of abominable life; life after life such fools are unable to remember the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore they continue going down and down.