Text 6] Mother Parvati Curses Citraketu 169

uvaca—he said; devyah—while the goddess Parvati; srmvantyah—was

hearing; jahdsa—he laughed; uccaih—very loudly; tad-antike—in the

vicinity.

TRANSLATION
One time while King Citraketu was traveling in outer space on a

£ brilliantly effulgent airplane given to him by Lord Visnu, he saw

Lord Siva, surrounded by Siddhas and Caranas. Lord Siva was sit-

ting in an assembly of great saintly persons and embracing Parvati

on his lap with his arm. Citraketu laughed loudly and spoke,

within the hearing of Parvati.

PURPORT
Srila Vigvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says in this connection,
bhakti bhitirn harir dattva
sva-vicchedanubhitaye
devyah sapena vrtratvam
nitvd tam svantike ‘nayat

The purport is that the Supreme Personality of Godhead wanted to bring

Citraketu to Vaikunthaloka as soon as possible. The Lord’s plan was that

Citraketu be cursed by Parvati to become Vrtrasura so that in his next

life he could quickly return home, back to Godhead. There have been

many instances in which a devotee acting as a demon has been brought to

the kingdom of God by the mercy of the Lord. For Parvati to be

embraced by Lord Siva was natural in a relationship between husband

and wife; this was nothing extraordinary for Citraketu to see. Nonethe-

less, Citraketu laughed loudly to see Lord Siva in that situation, even

though he should not have done so. Thus he was eventually cursed, and

this curse was the cause of his returning home, back to Godhead.

TEXT 6
PATATEATT
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TT HATS: ATH Te TAY |
MET FET TATA Fras AAT Ul &
