SB 4.3.12
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 12
- paśya prayāntīr abhavānya-yoṣito
- 'py alaṅkṛtāḥ kānta-sakhā varūthaśaḥ
- yāsāṁ vrajadbhiḥ śiti-kaṇṭha maṇḍitaṁ
- nabho vimānaiḥ kala-haṁsa-pāṇḍubhiḥ
SYNONYMS
paśya — just see; prayāntīḥ — going; abhava — O never-born; anya-yoṣitaḥ — other women; api — certainly; alaṅkṛtāḥ — ornamented; kānta-sakhāḥ — with their husbands and friends; varūthaśaḥ — in large numbers; yāsām — of them; vrajadbhiḥ — flying; śiti-kaṇṭha — O blue-throated one; maṇḍitam — decorated; nabhaḥ — the sky; vimānaiḥ — with airplanes; kala-haṁsa — swans; pāṇḍubhiḥ — white.
TRANSLATION
O never-born, O blue-throated one, not only my relatives but also other women, dressed in nice clothes and decorated with ornaments, are going there with their husbands and friends. Just see how their flocks of white airplanes have made the entire sky very beautiful.
PURPORT
Here Lord Śiva is addressed as abhava, which means "one who is never born," although generally he is known as bhava, "one who is born." Rudra, Lord Śiva, is actually born from between the eyes of Brahmā, who is called Svayambhū because he is not born of any human being or material creature but is born directly from the lotus flower which grows from the abdomen of Viṣṇu. When Lord Śiva is addressed here as abhava, this may be taken to mean "one who has never felt material miseries." Sati wanted to impress upon her husband that even those who were not related to her father were also going, to say nothing of herself, who was intimately related with him. Lord Śiva is addressed here as blue throated. Lord Śiva drank an ocean of poison and kept it in his throat, not swallowing it or allowing it to go down to his stomach, and thus his throat became blue. Since then he has been known as nīlakaṇṭha, or blue throated. The reason that Lord Śiva drank an ocean of poison was for others' benefit. When the ocean was churned by the demigods and the demons, the churning at first produced poison, so because the poisonous ocean might have affected others who were not so advanced, Lord Śiva drank all the ocean water. In other words, he could drink such a great amount of poison for others' benefit, and now, since his wife was personally requesting him to go to her father's house, even if he did not wish to give that permission, he should do so out of his great kindness.