Devanagari
तद् विदित्वा मुनि: प्राह पत्नीं कष्टमकारषी: ।
घोरो दण्डधर: पुत्रो भ्राता ते ब्रह्मवित्तम: ॥ १० ॥
Verse text
tad viditvā muniḥ prāha
patnīṁ kaṣṭam akāraṣīḥ
ghoro daṇḍa-dharaḥ putro
bhrātā te brahma-vittamaḥ
Synonyms
tat
—
this fact
;
viditvā
—
having learned
;
muniḥ
—
the great sage
;
prāha
—
said
;
patnīm
—
unto his wife
;
kaṣṭam
—
very regrettable
;
akāraṣīḥ
—
you have done
;
ghoraḥ
—
fierce
;
daṇḍa
—
dharaḥ — a great personality who can punish others
;
putraḥ
—
such a son
;
bhrātā
—
brother
;
te
—
your
;
brahma
—
vittamaḥ — a learned scholar in spiritual science .
Translation
When the great sage Ṛcīka returned home after bathing and understood what had happened in his absence, he said to his wife, Satyavatī, “You have done a great wrong. Your son will be a fierce kṣatriya, able to punish everyone, and your brother will be a learned scholar in spiritual science.”
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
When the sage understood what had happened in his absence, he said to his wife, Satyavatī, "You have done something horrible. Your son will be a fierce kṣatriya, and your brother will be the best of brāhmaṇas."
You have done something horrible. Your son will be fierce kṣatriya (danḍa-dharaḥ). Your brother will be a brāhmaṇa, Viśvāmitra. He will be described later.
Purport
A
brāhmaṇa
is highly qualified when he can control his senses and mind, when he is a learned scholar in spiritual science and when he is tolerant and forgiving. A
kṣatriya,
however, is highly qualified when he is fierce in giving punishment to wrongdoers. These qualities are stated in
Bhagavad-gītā
(18.42-43). Because Satyavatī, instead of eating her own oblation, had eaten that which was meant for her mother, she would give birth to a son imbued with the
kṣatriya
spirit. This was undesirable. The son of a
brāhmaṇa
is generally expected to become a
brāhmaṇa,
but if such a son becomes fierce like a
kṣatriya,
he is designated according to the description of the four
varṇas
in
Bhagavad-gītā
(
cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ
). If the son of a
brāhmaṇa
does not become like a
brāhmaṇa,
he may be called a
kṣatriya, vaiśya
or
śūdra,
according to his qualifications. The basic principle for dividing society is not a person’s birth but his qualities and actions.