Text 21]
Satī Quits Her Body
133
tad-anna-tṛptair asu-bhṛdbhir īḍitā avyakta-liṅgā avadhūta-sevitāḥ
mā—are not; vaḥ—yours; padavyaḥ—opulences; pitaḥ—O father; asmat-āsthitāḥ—possessed by us; yāḥ—which (opulences); yajña-śālāsu—in the sacrificial fire; na—not; dhūma-vartmabhiḥ—by the path of sacrifices; tat-anna-tṛptaiḥ—satisfied by the foodstuff of the sacrifice; asu-bhṛdbhiḥ—satisfying bodily necessities; īḍitāḥ—praised; avyakta-liṅgāḥ—whose cause is unmanifested; avadhūta-sevitāḥ—achieved by the self-realized souls.
TRANSLATION
My dear father, the opulence which we possess is impossible either for you or for your flatterers to imagine because persons who engage in fruitive activities by performing great sacrifices are concerned with satisfying their bodily necessities by eating foodstuff offered as a sacrifice. We can exhibit our opulences simply by desiring to do so. This can be achieved only by great personalities who are renounced self-realized souls.
PURPORT
Satī's father was under the impression that he was exalted in both prestige and opulence and that he had offered his daughter to a person who was not only poor but devoid of all culture. Her father might have been thinking that although she was a chaste woman, greatly adherent to her husband, her husband was in a deplorable condition. To counteract such thoughts, Satī said that the opulence possessed by her husband could not be understood by materialistic persons like Dakṣa and his followers, who were flatterers and were engaged in fruitive activities. Her husband's position was different. He possessed all opulences, but he did not like to exhibit them. Therefore such opulences are called  avyakta , or unmanifested. But if required, simply by willing, Lord Śiva can show his wonderful opulences, and such an event is predicted here, for it would soon occur. The opulence which Lord Śiva possesses is enjoyable in renunciation and love of God, not in material exhibition of sense gratificatory methods. Such opulences are possessed by personalities like the Kumāras, Nārada and Lord Śiva, not by others. In this verse the performers of the Vedic rituals are condemned. They have been described here as  dhūma-vartmabhiḥ , those who maintain themselves on the remnants of sacrificial foodstuff. There are two kinds of foodstuff offered in sacrifice. One kind is food offered in fruitive ritualistic sacrifices, and the other, the best, is food offered to Viṣṇu. Although in all cases Viṣṇu is the chief