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The Descendants of King Māndhātā
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possessions, claiming them as a contribution of  dakṣiṇā . Vasiṣṭha, however, did not like this, and therefore a fight arose between Vasiṣṭha and Viśvāmitra. The fighting became so severe that each of them cursed the other. One of them said, “May you become a bird,” and the other said, “May you become a duck.” Thus both of them became birds and continued fighting for many years because of Hariścandra. We can see that such a great mystic  yogī  as Saubhari became a victim of sense gratification, and such great sages as Vasiṣṭha and Viśvāmitra became birds. This is the material world.  Ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna . Within this material world, or within this universe, however elevated one may be in material qualities, one must suffer the conditions of birth, death, old age and disease ( janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi ). Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that this material world is simply miserable ( duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam ). The  Bhāgavatam  says,  padam padam yad vipadām : at every step here there is danger. Therefore, because the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement provides the opportunity for the human being to get out of this material world simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa  mantra , this movement is the greatest benediction in human society.
TEXT 8
सोऽनपत्यो विषण्णात्मा नारदस्योपदेशतः । वरुणं शरणं यातः पुत्रो मे जायतां प्रभो ॥ ८ ॥
so 'napatyo viṣaṇṇātmā nāradasyopadeśataḥ varuṇam śaraṇam yātaḥ putro me jāyatām prabho
saḥ —that Hariścandra;  anapatyaḥ —being without a son;  viṣaṇṇa- ātmā —therefore very morose;  nāradasya —of Nārada;  upadeśataḥ —by the advice;  varuṇam —unto Varuṇa;  śaraṇam yātaḥ —took shelter;  putraḥ —a son;  me —of me;  jāyatām —let there be born;  prabho —O my lord.
TRANSLATION
Hariścandra had no son and was therefore extremely morose. Once, therefore, following the advice of Nārada, he took shelter of