Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.84.39
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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ṛṇaiḥ
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with debts
Instrumental plural of ṛṇa (debt) — paired in the verse with tribhiḥ (three). The tri-ṛṇa framework of dharma-śāstra (Manu 6.35). Gauḍīyas note that bhakti, while transcending this framework, does not negate it — Vaiṣṇava householders honor the tri-ṛṇa as part of grhastha-dharma.
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deva-ṛṣi-pitṝṇām
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to the demigods, sages, and forefathers
Three classes of creditor. Gauḍīyas read service to ṛṣis (svādhyāya, śravaṇa) as the limb closest to bhakti — knowing the sage's teaching is the seed of knowing Kṛṣṇa.
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yajña-adhyayana-putraiḥ
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by sacrifice, study, and children
Three payment-modes for the three debts. Gauḍīyas note that for a Vaiṣṇava these become viṣṇu-yajña, bhāgavata-svādhyāya, and offering one's children to Kṛṣṇa from infancy.
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patet
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he falls
Optative of √pat. Falling — not into a metaphor but into actual lower births. Gauḍīyas note that the verse retains the stark eschatology of dharma-śāstra: leaving the debt-stack unpaid has consequences.
Concerning the special obligations of a brāhmaṇa, the śruti states, jāyamāno vai brāhmaṇas tribhir ṛṇavāñ jāyate brahmacaryeṇa ṛṣibhyo yajñena devebhyaḥ prajayā pitṛbhyaḥ: “Whenever a brāhmaṇa takes birth, three debts are born along with him. He can pay his debt to the sages by celibacy, his debt to the demigods by sacrifice, and his debt to his forefathers by begetting children.”
The sruti says, "The brahmana is born with debts to these three. By brahmacarya (studying the Vedas) , by sacrifice and by producing children, he is freed from the debts to the rsis, to the devatas and to the pitras." Paying back the debts to them (tani nistirya) one should go to the forest.
O Lord, capable of relieving us of all debts (prabho)! The incapable person should not be found faulty. One version has pitṛnām. The short ṛ is poetic license. Without liquidating his debts to the devatās (tān or tāni) he encounters great obstracles (patet) in this life and the next. Therefore Manu says vrajati adhaḥ: one should leave the house after this is accomplished. Taking shelter of the Lord is not forbidden at this time. There is no fault in worshipping the Lord even if one has debts. devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛṇāṁ pitṝṇāṁ na kiṅkaro nāyam ṛṇī ca rājan sarvātmanā yaḥ śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyaṁ gato mukundaṁ parihṛtya kartam O King! One who has given up all varṇāśrama duties and has taken full shelter of the lotus feet of Mukunda, who offers shelter to all, is not a debtor to or servant of the devatās, great sages, ordinary living beings, relatives or Pitṛs. SB 11.5.41
One must absolve debts to the devatās by sacrifice, just as one absolves debts to sages and pitṛs by study and sons respectively. O Lord, capable of relieving us of all debts (prabho)! The incapable person should not be found faulty. One version has pitṛnām. The short ṛ is poetic license. Without liquidating his debts to the devatās (tān or tāni) he encounters great obstracles (patet) in this life and the next or enters into enjoyment of the house again.
- Whose past investment in me have I not yet honored or repaid?
- What 'inheritance' have I been treating as my own creation?
A twice-born man arrives at human birth carrying three small invoices — owed to demigods (paid by yajña), to sages (paid by svādhyāya), to forefathers (paid by progeny). Leaving the body with the invoices unpaid is exiting the inn without settling the bill: a hell-bound move. The sages name the bookkeeping so Vasudeva can close it cleanly.
My note
Source: vedabase.io