Text 4] Narada and Angira Instruct King Citraketu 55

yatha—just as; dhdndsu—through seeds of paddy; vai—indeed;
dhénah—grains; bhavanti—are generated; na—not; bhavanti—are
generated; ca—also; evam—in this way; bhitani—the living entities;
bhitesu—in other living entities; coditani—impelled; isa-mayaya—by
the potency or power of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

TRANSLATION

When seeds are sown in the ground, they sometimes grow into
plants and sometimes do not. Sometimes the ground is not fertile,
and the sowing of seeds is unproductive. Similarly, sometimes a
prospective father, being impelled by the potency of the Supreme
Lord, can beget a child, but sometimes conception does not take
place. Therefore one should not lament over the artificial relation-

ship of parenthood, which is ultimately controlled by the Supreme
Lord.

PURPORT

Maharaja Citraketu was actually not destined to get a son. Therefore
although he married hundreds and thousands of wives, all of them
proved barren, and he could not beget even one child. When Angira Rsi
came to see the King, the King requested the great sage to enable him to
have at least one son. Because of the blessing of Angira Rsi, a child was
sent by the grace of maya, but the child was not to live for long.
Therefore in the beginning Angira Rsi told the King that he would beget
a child who would cause jubilation and lamentation.

King Citraketu was not destined to get a child by providence, or the
will of the Supreme. Just as sterile grain cannot produce more grain, a
sterile person, by the will of the Supreme Lord, cannot beget a child.
Sometimes a child is born even to an impotent father and sterile mother,
and sometimes a potent father and fertile mother are childless. Indeed,
sometimes a child is born despite contraceptive methods, and therefore
the parents kill the child in the womb. In the present age, killing
children in the womb has become a common practice. Why? When con-
traceptive methods are taken, why don’t they act? Why is a child some-
times produced so that the father and mother have to kill it in the womb?
We must conclude that our arrangement of so-called scientific knowledge
cannot determine what will take place; what is enacted actually depends
