88 Srimad-Bhagavatam [ Canto 4, Ch. 3

material enjoyment. Lord Siva, however, is different; therefore his name
is Siva. He is not at all attracted by material enjoyment, although his wife,
Sati, was the daughter of a very great leader and was given to him by the
request of Brahma. Lord Siva was reluctant, but Sati, as a woman, the
daughter of a king, wanted enjoyment. She wanted to go to her father’s
house, just as her other sisters might have done, and meet them and enjoy
social life. Here, she specifically indicated that she would decorate herself
with the ornaments given by her father. She did not say that she would
decorate herself with the ornaments given by her husband because her
husband was callous about all such matters. He did not know how to
decorate his wife and take part in social life because he was always in
ecstasy with thoughts of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. According
to the Vedic system, a daughter is given a sufficient dowry at the time of
her marriage, so Sati was also given a dowry by her father, and ornaments
were included. It is also the custom that the husband gives some ornaments,
but here it is particularly mentioned that her husband, being materially
almost nothing, could not do so; therefore she wanted to decorate herself
with the ornaments given by her father. It was fortunate for Sati that
Lord Siva did not take the ornaments from his wife and spend them for
gafija because those who imitate Lord Siva in smoking gafija exploit
everything from household affairs; they take all of their wives’ property
and spend on smoking, intoxication and similar other activities.

TEXT 10
wm apt ag adafinn
aaa: featrt 3 aay |
Re fattenosnat aefifi-
eat A ATATAAT 112 ol |

tatra svasfr me nanu bhartr-sammita
matr-svasrh klinna-dhiyam ca mataram
draksye cirotkantha-mana maharsibhir
unniyamanam ca mrdadhvara-dhvajam
tatra—there; svasfh—own sisters; me—my; nanu—surely; bhartr-
sammitah—along with their husbands; matr-svasrh—the sisters of my moth-
er; klinna-dhiyam—affectionate; ca—and; mataram—mother; draksye—1
shall see; cira-utkantha-manah—being very anxious for a long time;
maharsibhih—great sages; unntyamanam—being raised up; ca—and; mrda—
O Siva; adhvara—sacrifice; dhvajam—flags.
