186
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 5, Ch. 18]
तासां न ते वै परिपान्त्यपत्यं प्रियं धनायूषि यतोऽस्वतन्त्राः ॥१९॥
striyo vratais tvā hṛṣīkeśvaraṁ svato hy ārādhya loke patim āśāsate 'nyam tāsāṁ na te vai paripānty apatyaṁ priyaṁ dhanāyūṁṣi yato 'sva-tantrāḥ
striyaḥ —all women;  vrataiḥ —by observing fasting and other vows;  tvā —you;  hṛṣīkeśvaraṁ —the Supreme Personality of Godhead, master of the senses;  svataḥ —of your own accord;  hi —certainly;  ārādhya —worshiping;  loke —in the world;  patim —a husband;  āśāsate —ask for;  anyam —another;  tāsāṁ —of all those women;  na —not;  te —the husbands;  vai —indeed;  paripānti —able to protect;  apatyam —the children;  priyam —very dear;  dhana —the wealth;  āyūṁṣi —or the duration of life;  yataḥ —because;  asva-tantrāḥ —dependent.
TRANSLATION
My dear Lord, You are certainly the fully independent master of all the senses. Therefore all women who worship You by strictly observing vows because they wish to acquire a husband to satisfy their senses are surely under illusion. They do not know that such a husband cannot actually give protection to them or their children. Nor can he protect their wealth or duration of life, for he himself is dependent on time, fruitive results and the modes of nature, which are all subordinate to You.
PURPORT
In this verse, Lakṣmīdevī (Ramā) shows compassion toward women who worship the Lord for the benediction of possessing a good husband. Although such women desire to be happy with children, wealth, a long duration of life and everything dear to them, they cannot possibly do so. In the material world, a so-called husband is dependent on the control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There are many examples of a woman whose husband, being dependent on the result of his own frui-