SB 1.13.58 (1965)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 58
Dahyamane agnibhir dehe patyuh patni sahotaje Bahi sthita patim saddhi tam agnim anubekshati.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Dahyamane—while it is burning, Agnibhir—by the fire, Dehe—the body, patyuh—of the husband, patni—the wife, Sahotaje—along with the thatched cottage, Bahi—outside, Sthita—situated, Patim—unto the husband, Saddhi—the chaste lady, Tam—that, Agnim—fire, Anubekshati—look in with great attention shall enter into the fire.
TRANSLATION
While observing her husband, from outside, burning in the fire of mystic power along with the thatched cottage, the chaste lady would enter in to the fire while looking very attentively.
PURPORT
Gandhari was the ideal chaste lady a life companion of her husband and therefore while she saw her husband burning in the fire of mystic Yoga along with the cottage of leaves, certainly her despair of life could not be described. She came out of home after losing all her one hundred sons and in the forest she saw her most beloved husband was also burning. Now she actually felt alone and therefore entered the fire of her husband and followed her husband till death. This entering of a chaste lady in the fire of her dead husband is called Sati rite and the action is cosidered as the most perfect stage for a woman. In the later age this Sati rite became an obnoxious criminal affair because the ceremony was forced upon an woman unwilling to become Sati. In this fallen age it is not possible for any lady to follow the Sati rite as chastely as it was done by Gandhari and others of by-gone age. A chaste wife like by Gandhari would feel the separation of her husband more burning than actual burning in fire. Such lady could observe the Sati rite voluntarily and there was no criminal force by anyone. When the rite became a formality only and force was applied upon a lady to follow the principle actually it became criminal and therefore the ceremony was to be stopped by state law. This foretelling of Narada Muni to Maharaj Yudrhisthir forbade him to go to his widow aunt even.