Devanagari
आनीयतामरे वेत्रमस्माकमयशस्कर: ।
कुलाङ्गारस्य दुर्बुद्धेश्चतुर्थोऽस्योदितो दम: ॥ १६ ॥
Verse text
ānīyatām are vetram
asmākam ayaśaskaraḥ
kulāṅgārasya durbuddheś
caturtho ’syodito damaḥ
Synonyms
ānīyatām
—
let it be brought
;
are
—
oh
;
vetram
—
the stick
;
asmākam
—
of us
;
ayaśaskaraḥ
—
who is bringing defamation
;
kula
—
aṅgārasya — of he who is like a cinder in the dynasty
;
durbuddheḥ
—
having bad intelligence
;
caturthaḥ
—
the fourth
;
asya
—
for him
;
uditaḥ
—
declared
;
damaḥ
—
punishment (the stick, argumentum ad baculum ) .
Translation
Oh, please bring me a stick! This Prahlāda is damaging our name and fame. Because of his bad intelligence, he has become like a cinder in the dynasty of the demons. Now he needs to be treated by the fourth of the four kinds of political diplomacy.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Oh, please bring me a stick! This Prahlāda is damaging our fame. For such bad intelligence, a cinder in the dynasty of the demons, the fourth method, punishment, is recommended in scriptures.
Vetram is a special stick for beating. Bring the stick because he has brought infamy to us. For such faulty intelligence, among the methods, the fourth one, punishment, is recommended in the scriptures.
Purport
In political affairs, when a person disobediently agitates against the government, four principles are used to suppress him — legal orders, pacification, the offer of a post, or, finally, weapons. When there are no other arguments, he is punished. In logic, this is called
argumentum ad baculum.
When the two seminal
brāhmaṇas
Ṣaṇḍa and Amarka failed to extract from Prahlāda Mahārāja the cause for his having opinions different from those of his father, they called for a stick with which to chastise him to satisfy their master, Hiraṇyakaśipu. Because Prahlāda had become a devotee, they considered him to be contaminated by bad intelligence and to be the worst descendant in the family of demons. As it is said, where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise. In a society or family in which everyone is a demon, for someone to become a Vaiṣṇava is certainly folly. Thus Prahlāda Mahārāja was charged with bad intelligence because he was among demons, including his teachers, who were supposedly
brāhmaṇas.
The members of our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement are in a position similar to that of Prahlāda Mahārāja. All over the world, ninety-nine percent of the people are godless demons, and therefore our preaching of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, following in the footsteps of Prahlāda Mahārāja, is always hampered by many impediments. Because of their fault of being devotees, the American boys who have sacrificed everything for preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness are charged with being members of the CIA. Moreover, the seminal
brāhmaṇas
in India, who say that one can become a
brāhmaṇa
only if born in a
brāhmaṇa
family, charge us with ruining the Hindu system of religion. Of course, the fact is that one becomes a
brāhmaṇa
by qualification. Because we are training Europeans and Americans to become qualified and are awarding them brahminical status, we are being charged with destroying the Hindu religion. Nonetheless, confronting all kinds of difficulties, we must spread the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement with great determination, like that of Prahlāda Mahārāja. In spite of being the son of the demon Hiraṇyakaśipu, Prahlāda never feared the chastisements of the seminal
brāhmaṇa
sons of a demoniac father.