kim etayÄ no 'paká¹›taá¹
rajjvÄ vÄ sarpa-cetasaḥ
draá¹£á¹uḥ svarÅ«pÄviduá¹£o
yo 'haṠyad ajitendriyaḥ
kim - what; etayÄ - by her; naḥ - to us; apaká¹›tam - offense has been done; rajjvÄ - by a rope; vÄ - or; sarpa-cetasaḥ - who is thinking it to be a snake; draá¹£á¹uḥ - of such a seer; svarÅ«pa - the real identity; aviduá¹£aḥ - who does not understand; yaḥ - who; aham - I; yat - because of; ajita-indriyaḥ - having not controlled the senses.
How can I blame her for my trouble when I myself am ignorant of my real, spiritual nature? I did not control my senses, and so I am like a person who mistakenly sees a harmless rope as a snake.
When a person mistakes a rope for a snake, he becomes fearful and anxious. Such fear and anxiety are, of course, illusion, since the rope can never bite. Similarly, one who mistakenly thinks that the material, illusory energy of the Lord exists for his personal sense gratification will certainly bring down on his head an avalanche of material, illusory fear and anxiety. King PurÅ«ravÄ frankly admits here that the young lady Urvaśī is not to blame. After all, it was PurÅ«ravÄ who mistakenly considered her to be an object of his personal enjoyment, and therefore he suffered the reaction by the laws of nature. PurÅ«ravÄ himself was the offender for trying to exploit the external form of Urvaśī.
