904 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 3, Ch. 23

visrjya—giving up; kdmam—lust; dambham—pride; ca—and; dvesarn—
envy; lobham—greed; agham sinful activities; madam—vanity ; apramatta—
sane; udyatd—laboring diligently; nityam—always; tejiyamsam—her very
powerful husband; atosayat—she pleased.

TRANSLATION

Working sanely and diligently, she pleased her very powerful husband,
giving up all lust, pride, envy, greed, sinful activities and vanity.

PURPORT

Here are some of the qualities of a great husband’s great wife. Kardama
Muni is great by spiritual qualification. Such a husband is called tejtyamsam,
most powerful. Although a wife may be equal to her husband in advance-
ment in spiritual consciousness, she should not be vainly proud. Some-
times it happens that the wife comes from a very rich family, as did
Devahiti, the daughter of Emperor Svayambhuva Manu. She could have
been very proud of her parentage, but that is forbidden. The wife should
not be proud of her parental position. She must always be submissive to
the husband and must give up all vanity. As soon as the wife becomes
proud of her parentage, it creates great misunderstanding between the
husband and wife, and their nuptial life is ruined. Devahiiti was very
careful about that, and therefore it is said here that she gave up pride
completely. Devahiti was not unfaithful. The most sinful activity for a
wife is to accept another husband or another lover. Canakya Pandita has
described four kinds of enemies at home. If the father is in debt he is |
considered to be an enemy; if the mother has selected another husband in
the presence of her grown-up children, she is considered to be an enemy;
if a wife does not live well with her husband but deals very roughly, then
she is an enemy; and if a son is a fool, he is also an enemy. In family life,
father, mother, wife and children are assets, but if the wife or mother accepts
another husband in the presence of her husband or son, then, according to
Vedic civilization, she is considered an enemy. A chaste and faithful
woman must not practice adultery—that is a greatly sinful act.

TEXTS 4-5

a ¥ aafieiat aradt anqaany |
Sareea: TeaMAAa wef: 1 A
