SB 7.10.18 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

श्रीभगवानुवाच त्रि:सप्तभि: पिता पूत: पितृभि: सह तेऽनघ । यत्साधोऽस्य कुले जातो भवान्वै कुलपावन: ॥ १८ ॥

Verse text

śrī-bhagavān uvāca triḥ-saptabhiḥ pitā pūtaḥ pitṛbhiḥ saha te ’nagha yat sādho ’sya kule jāto bhavān vai kula-pāvanaḥ

Synonyms

śrī — bhagavān uvāca — the Supreme Personality of Godhead said ; triḥ — saptabhiḥ — seven multiplied by three (that is to say, twenty-one) ; pitā — father ; pūtaḥ — purified ; pitṛbhiḥ — with your forefathers ; saha — all together ; te — your ; anagha — O most sinless personality (Prahlāda Mahārāja) ; yat — because ; sādho — O great saintly person ; asya — of this person ; kule — in the dynasty ; jātaḥ — took birth ; bhavān — you ; vai — indeed ; kula — pāvanaḥ — the purifier of the whole dynasty .

Translation

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Prahlāda, O most pure, O great saintly person, your father has been purified, along with twenty-one forefathers in your family. Because you were born in this family, the entire dynasty has been purified.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The Lord said: O sinless Prahlāda! Your father has been purified, along with twenty-one forefathers in your family. As a devotee, you purify the family. Because you were born in this family, the entire dynasty has been purified. What to speak of your father being purified in this life, twenty-one generations of his ancestors have been purified. “How do you purify the forefathers?” You, the devotee, have purified the father’s and mother’s lineage.

Purport

The word triḥ-saptabhiḥ means seven multiplied by three. In one’s family one can count back four or five generations — to one’s great-grandfather or even one’s great-grandfather’s father — but since the Lord mentions twenty-one forefathers, this indicates that the benediction expands to other families also. Before the present family in which one has taken birth, one must have been born in other families. Thus when a Vaiṣṇava takes birth in a family, by the grace of the Lord he purifies not only that family but also the families of his previous births.