FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.13.46

కదపత్యం వరం మన్యే సదపత్యాచ్ఛుచాం పదాత్ । నిర్విద్యేత గృహాన్మర్త్యో యత్‍క్‍లేశనివహా గృహా: ॥ ౪౬ ॥
kad-apatyaṁ varaṁ manye
[kad-apatyam varam manye]
sad-apatyāc chucāṁ padāt
[sad-apatyaach chuchaam padaat]
nirvidyeta gṛhān martyo
[nirvidyeta grihaan martyo]
yat-kleśa-nivahā gṛhāḥ
[yat-klesha-nivahaa grihaah]
kad-apatyam — bad son varam — better manye — I think sat-apatyāt — than a good son śucām — of grief padāt — the source nirvidyeta — becomes detached gṛhāt — from home martyaḥ — a mortal man yat — because of whom kleśa-nivahāḥ — hellish gṛhāḥ — home.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
kad-apatyaṁ varaṁ manye
kad-apatyam
bad son
varam
better
manye
I think
sad-apatyāc chucāṁ padāt
sat-apatyāt
than a good son
śucām
of grief
padāt
the source
nirvidyeta gṛhān martyo
nirvidyeta
becomes detached
gṛhāt
from home
martyaḥ
a mortal man
yat-kleśa-nivahā gṛhāḥ
yat
because of whom
kleśa-nivahāḥ
hellish
gṛhāḥ
home.
Then the King thought: A bad son is better than a good son because a good son creates an attachment for home, whereas a bad son does not. A bad son creates a hellish home from which an intelligent man naturally becomes very easily detached.

The King began to think in terms of attachment and detachment from one’s material home. According to Prahlāda Mahārāja, the material home is compared to a blind well. If a man falls down into a blind well, it is very difficult to get out of it and begin life again. Prahlāda Mahārāja has advised that one give up this blind well of home life as soon as possible and go to the forest to take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. According to Vedic civilization, this giving up of home by vānaprastha and sannyāsa is compulsory. But people are so attached to their homes that even up to the point of death they do not like to retire from home life. King Aṅga, therefore, thinking in terms of detachment, accepted his bad son as a good impetus for detachment from home life. He therefore considered his bad son his friend since he was helping him become detached from his home. Ultimately one has to learn how to detach oneself from attachment to material life; therefore if a bad son, by his bad behavior, helps a householder to go away from home, it is a boon.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
I consider a bad son better than a good son because the house becomes a source of suffering and one becomes disinterested in the source of suffering. He understood that this son would be a cause of developing a taste for renunciation. The Lord, being merciful, wanting to bring me to his lotus feet, though I am blind with material enjoyment, has given me this son. This was his understanding.
📝 My note

← Read full Chapter 13