Text 51] Prayers by Queen Kunti 435

administration but for the sake of self-aggrandizement, and as such he
thought himself responsible for all the sins.

TEXT 51
Riteiale seat rata 2H

strinadm madd-hata-bandhiinam
droho yo ’sav ihotthitah

karmabhir grhamedhiyair
naham kalpo vyapohitum

strinam—of the woman; mat—by me; hata-bandhinam—of the friends
who are killed; drohah—enmity; yah—that; asau—all those; iha—herewith;
utthitah—has accrued; karmabhih—by dint of work; grhamedhiyaih—by
persons engaged in material welfare; na—never; akam—1; kalpah—can
expect; vyapohitum—undoing the same.

TRANSLATION

I have killed many friends of women, and I have thus caused enmity to
such an extent that it is not possible to undo it by material welfare work.

PURPORT

The grhamedhis are those whose only business is to perform welfare
work for the sake of material prosperity. Such material prosperity is some-
times hampered by sinful activities, and the materialist is sure to commit
sins, even unintentionally, in course of discharging material duties. To get
relief from such sinful reactions, the Vedas prescribe several kinds of
sacrifices. It is said in the Vedas that by performing the asvamedha yajiia
(horse sacrifice) one can get relief from even brahmahatya (killing of a
brahmana).

Yudhisthira Maharaja performed this asvamedha yajfia, but he thinks
that even by performing such yajias it is not possible to get relief from the
great sins committed. In the war either the husband or the brother or even
the father or sons go to fight. And when they are killed, a fresh enmity is
created, and thus a chain of actions and reactions increases which is not
possible to be counteracted even by thousands of asvamedha yajiias.
