Text 38]
Hiraṇyakāśipu, King of the Demons
99
of matter. To follow this theory, if the lump of matter is aborted by a surgical operation, no life is killed; the body of a child is like a tumor, and if a tumor is operated upon and thrown away, no sin is involved. The same argument could be put forward in regard to the King and his queens. The body of the King was manifested from an unmanifested source, and again it became unmanifested from manifestation. Since the manifestation exists only in the middle—between the two points of unmanifestation—why should one cry for the body manifested in the interim?
TEXT 38
अहो वयं धन्यतमा यदत्र 
  त्यक्ताः पितृभ्यां न विचिन्तयामः । 
  अमक्ष्यमाणा अबला वृकादिभिः 
  स रक्षिता रक्षति यो हि गर्भे ॥३८॥
aho vayam dhanyatamā yad atra 
  tyaktāḥ pitrbhyām na vicintayāmaḥ 
  abhakṣyamāṇā abalā vṛkādibhiḥ 
  sa rakṣitā rakṣati yo hi garbhe
aho—alas; vayam—we; dhanya-tamāḥ—most fortunate; yat—because; atra—at the present moment; tyaktāḥ—left alone, without protection; pitrbhyām—by both father and mother; na—not; vicintayāmaḥ—worry; abhakṣyamāṇāḥ—not being eaten; abalāḥ—very weak; vṛka-ādibhiḥ—by tigers and other ferocious animals; saḥ—He (the Supreme Personality of Godhead); rakṣitā—will protect; rakṣati—has protected; yaḥ—who; hi—indeed; garbhe—within the womb.
TRANSLATION
It is wonderful that these elderly women do not have a higher sense of life than we do. Indeed, we are most fortunate, for although we are children and have been left to struggle in material life, unprotected by father and mother, and although we are very