FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.23.21

देहं विपन्नाखिलचेतनादिकं पत्यु: पृथिव्या दयितस्य चात्मन: । आलक्ष्य किञ्चिच्च विलप्य सा सती चितामथारोपयदद्रिसानुनि ॥ २१ ॥
dehaṁ vipannākhila-cetanādikaṁ
[deham vipannaakhila-chetanaadikam]
patyuḥ pṛthivyā dayitasya cātmanaḥ
[patyuh prithivyaa dayitasya chaatmanah]
ālakṣya kiñcic ca vilapya sā satī
[aalakshya kinchich cha vilapya saa satee]
citām athāropayad adri-sānuni
[chitaam athaaropayad adri-saanuni]
deham — body vipanna — completely failing akhila — all cetana — feeling ādikam — symptoms patyuḥ — of her husband pṛthivyāḥ — the world dayitasya — of the merciful ca ātmanaḥ — also of herself ālakṣya — by seeing kiñcit — very little ca — and vilapya — lamenting sā — she satī — the chaste citām — unto the fire atha — now āropayat — placed adri — hill sānuni — on the top.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
dehaṁ vipannākhila-cetanādikaṁ
deham
body
vipanna
completely failing
akhila
all
cetana
feeling
ādikam
symptoms
patyuḥ pṛthivyā dayitasya cātmanaḥ
patyuḥ
of her husband
pṛthivyāḥ
the world
dayitasya
of the merciful
ca ātmanaḥ
also of herself
ālakṣya kiñcic ca vilapya sā satī
ālakṣya
by seeing
kiñcit
very little
ca
and
vilapya
lamenting
sā
she
satī
the chaste
citām athāropayad adri-sānuni
citām
unto the fire
atha
now
āropayat
placed
adri
hill
sānuni
on the top.
When Queen Arci saw that her husband, who had been so merciful to her and the earth, no longer showed symptoms of life, she lamented for a little while and then built a fiery pyre on top of a hill and placed the body of her husband on it.

After seeing all the life symptoms in her husband stop, the Queen lamented for a while. The word kiñcit means “for a little while.” The Queen was completely aware that her husband was not dead, although the symptoms of life — action, intelligence and sense perception — had ceased. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (2.13) :

dehino ’smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati

“As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.”

When a living entity transfers from one body to another, a process generally known as death, a sane man does not lament, for he knows that the living entity is not dead but is simply transferred from one body to another. The Queen should have been afraid of being alone in the forest with the body of her husband, but since she was a great wife of a great personality, she lamented for a while but immediately understood that she had many duties to perform. Thus instead of wasting her time in lamentation, she immediately prepared a fiery pyre on top of a hill and then placed the body of her husband on it to be burned.

Mahārāja Pṛthu is described here as dayita, for not only was he the king of the earth, but he treated the earth as his protected child. Similarly, he protected his wife also. It was the duty of the king to give protection to everyone, especially to the earth or land which he ruled, as well as the citizens and his family members. Since Pṛthu Mahārāja was a perfect king, he gave protection to everyone, and therefore he is described here as dayita.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Seeing that the body of her merciful husband, master of the earth, was without life symptoms, after lamenting a little, she placed it on a pyre on a summit of a hill. Ātmanaḥ patyuḥ means “of her husband.” He had been merciful (dayitasya), treating the earth as his daughter. She only lamented a little because she was anxious to finish the funeral rites.
Seeing his life-symptoms gone, she briefly lamented and built a fiery pyre on a hill for his body. Grief is real but brief; right action begins right after.
Reflection Questions
  • Where am I extending grief past the point that allows the right next action?
  • What pyre — what closing ritual — am I owed to build for something that has truly ended?
📝 My note

← Read full Chapter 23