स्त्रीपुंसोः स्नेहवैक्लव्यात् परिहासमिवेरितम् ॥२६॥
Å›rutvÄ gÄthÄá¹ devayÄnÄ«
mene prastobham Ätmanaḥ
strÄ«-puá¹soḥ sneha-vaiklavyÄt
parihÄsam iveritam
Å›rutvÄ - hearing; gÄthÄm - the narration; devayÄnÄ« - Queen DevayÄnÄ«, the wife of MahÄrÄja YayÄti; mene - understood; prastobham Ätmanaḥ - when instructed for her self-realization; strÄ«-puá¹soḥ - between the husband and wife; sneha-vaiklavyÄt - from an exchange of love and affection; parihÄsam - a funny joke or story; iva - like; Ä«ritam - spoken (by MahÄrÄja YayÄti).
When DevayÄnÄ« heard MahÄrÄja YayÄti’s story of the he-goat and she-goat, she understood that this story, which was presented as if a funny joke for entertainment between husband and wife, was intended to awaken her to her constitutional position.
When one actually awakens from material life, one understands his real position as an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. This is called liberation. Muktir hitvÄnyathÄ rÅ«paá¹ svarÅ«peṇa vyavasthitiḥ (BhÄg. 2.10.6). Under the influence of mÄyÄ, everyone living in this material world thinks that he is the master of everything (ahaá¹…kÄra-vimÅ«á¸hÄtmÄ kartÄham iti manyate). One thinks that there is no God or controller and that one is independent and can do anything. This is the material condition, and when one awakens from this ignorance, he is called liberated. MahÄrÄja YayÄti had delivered DevayÄnÄ« from the well, and finally, as a dutiful husband, he instructed her with the story about the he-goat and she-goat and thus delivered her from the misconception of material happiness. DevayÄnÄ« was quite competent to understand her liberated husband, and therefore she decided to follow him as his faithful wife.
