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Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 3, Ch. 14]
activities, but he did not have sufficient strength to refuse his wife, who was thus afflicted. He could have refused her with strong words expressing impossibility, but he was not as spiritually strong as Vidura. Vidura is addressed here as a hero because no one is stronger in self-control than a devotee of the Lord. It appears that Kaśyapa was already inclined to have sex enjoyment with his wife, and because he was not a strong man he tried to dissuade her only with pacifying words.
TEXT 17
एष तेऽहं विधास्यामि प्रियं मोरु यदिच्छसि । तस्याः कामं न कः कुर्यात्सिद्धिस्त्रैवगिकी यतः ॥१७॥
eṣa te'ham vidhāsyāmi priyam bhīru yad icchasi tasyāḥ kāmam na kaḥ kuryāt siddhis traivargikī yataḥ
eṣaḥ—this; te—your request; aham—I; vidhāsyāmi—shall execute; priyam—very dear; bhīru—O afflicted one; yat—what; icchasi—you are desiring; tasyāḥ—her; kāmam—desires; na—not; kaḥ—who; kuryāt—would perform; siddhiḥ—perfection of liberation; traivargikī—three; yataḥ—from whom.
TRANSLATION
O afflicted one, I shall forthwith gratify whatever desire is dear to you, for who else but you is the source of the three perfections of liberation?
PURPORT
The three perfections of liberation are religiosity, economic development and sense gratification. For a conditioned soul, the wife is considered to be the source of liberation because she offers her service to the husband for his ultimate liberation. Conditional material existence is based on sense gratification, and if someone has the good fortune to get a good wife, he is helped by the wife in all respects. If one is disturbed in his conditional life, he becomes more and more entangled in material contamination. A faithful wife is supposed to cooperate with her husband in fulfilling all material desires so he can then become comfortable and execute spiritual activities for the perfection of life. If, however, the husband is progressive in spiritual advancement, the wife undoubtedly shares in his activities, and thus both the wife and the husband profit in spiritual perfection. It is essential, therefore, that girls as well as boys be trained to discharge spiri-