Devanagari
तत्र ह प्रेतबन्धूनामाश्रुत्य परिदेवितम् ।
आह तान् बालको भूत्वा यम: स्वयमुपागत: ॥ ३६ ॥
Verse text
tatra ha preta-bandhūnām
āśrutya paridevitam
āha tān bālako bhūtvā
yamaḥ svayam upāgataḥ
Synonyms
tatra
—
there
;
ha
—
certainly
;
preta
—
bandhūnām — of the friends and relatives of the dead King
;
āśrutya
—
hearing
;
paridevitam
—
the loud lamentation (so loud that it could be heard from the planet of Yamarāja)
;
āha
—
said
;
tān
—
unto them (the lamenting queens)
;
bālakaḥ
—
a boy
;
bhūtvā
—
becoming
;
yamaḥ
—
Yamarāja, the superintendent of death
;
svayam
—
personally
;
upāgataḥ
—
after coming .
Translation
While the queens were lamenting for the dead body of the King, their loud cries were heard even from the abode of Yamarāja. Assuming the body of a boy, Yamarāja personally approached the relatives of the dead body and advised them as follows.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Hearing the lamentation of the friends of the departed king, Yamarāja took the form of a boy, went there, and spoke to them.
Yamarāja personally went. Some say that generally Yama comes personally for pious persons and takes them to his city after their bodies are burned. Some explain that, among the women, a few were devotees, so Yama’s servants could not approach. Thus Yama himself came to take the body from them. Yamarāja took the form of a boy, because others could not enter such a form, because a child speaking is very sweet, and because a boy speaking philosophy would be astonishing and would inspire them to take up the instructions.
Purport
Sometimes the living entity is forced to give up his body and enter another one according to the judgment of Yamarāja. It is difficult, however, for the conditioned soul to enter another body unless the present dead body is annihilated through cremation or some other means. The living being has attachment for the present body and does not want to enter another, and thus in the interim he remains a ghost. If a living being who has already left his body has been pious, Yamarāja, just to give him relief, will give him another body. Since the living being in the body of the King had some attachment to his body, he was hovering as a ghost, and therefore Yamarāja, as a special consideration, approached the lamenting relatives to instruct them personally. Yamarāja approached them as a child because a child is not restricted but is granted admittance anywhere, even to the palace of a king. Besides this, the child was speaking philosophy. People are very much interested in hearing philosophy when it is spoken by a child.