84 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 1, Ch. 2
x ~
Gifs FATT TASH IAg-
aaa AEA AAATATISHA I 2 I
sitta uvaca
yam pravrajantam anupetam apeta-krtyam
dvaipayano viraha-katara ajuhava
putreti tanmayataya taravo’bhinedus
tam sarva-bhiita-hrdayam munim anato’smi

sutah—Siita Gosvami; uvadca—said; yam—whom; pravrajantam—while
going away for the renounced order of life; anupetam—without being
reformed by the sacred thread; apeta—not undergoing ceremonies; krtyam
—prescribed duties; dvaipayanah—V yasadeva; viraha—separation; katarah—
being afraid of; ajuhava—exclaimed; putra iti-O my son; tanmayataya—
being absorbed in that way; taravah—all the trees; abhineduh—responded;
tam—unto him; sarva—all; bhitta—living entities; hrdayam—heart; munim—
sage; Gnatah asmi—offer obeisances.

TRANSLATION

Srila Sita Gosvami said: Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto
that great sage [Sukadeva Gosvami] who can enter the hearts of all. When
he went away to take up the renounced order of life [sannyasa], leaving
home without undergoing the sacred thread ceremony, his father,
Vyasadeva, cried out to him, ‘‘Oh, my son!” Indeed, only the trees echoed
in response to the begrieved father.

PURPORT

The institution of varna and asrama prescribes many regulative duties to
be observed by its followers. Such duties enjoin that a candidate willing to
study the Vedas must approach a bona fide spiritual master and request
acceptance as his disciple. The sacred thread is the sign of those who are
competent to study the Vedas from the acarya or the bona fide spiritual
master. Sri Sukadeva Gosvami did not undergo such a purificatory cere-
mony because he was a liberated soul from his very birth.

Generally, a man is born as an ordinary being, and by the purificatory
processes he is born for the second time. When he sees a new light and
seeks direction for spiritual progress, he approaches a spiritual master to
