देवहूतिरुवाच
सर्वं तद्भगवान्मह्यमुपोवाह प्रतिश्रुतम् ।
अथापि मे प्रपन्नाया अभयं दातुमर्हसि ॥५१॥

devahÅ«tir uvÄca
sarvaá¹ tad bhagavÄn mahyam
upovÄha pratiÅ›rutam
athÄpi me prapannÄyÄ
abhayaá¹ dÄtum arhasi

 devahÅ«tiḥ - DevahÅ«ti; uvÄca - said; sarvam - all; tat - that; bhagavÄn - Your Lordship; mahyam - for me; upovÄha - has been fulfilled; pratiÅ›rutam - promised; atha api - yet; me - unto me; prapannÄyai - unto one who has surrendered; abhayam - fearlessness; dÄtum - to give; arhasi - you deserve.


Text

Śrī Devahūti said: My lord, you have fulfilled all the promises you gave me, yet because I am your surrendered soul, you should give me fearlessness too.

Purport

DevahÅ«ti requested her husband to grant her something without fear. As a wife, she was a fully surrendered soul to her husband, and it is the responsibility of the husband to give his wife fearlessness. How one awards fearlessness to his subordinate is mentioned in the Fifth Canto of ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam. One who cannot get free from the clutches of death is dependent, and he should not become a spiritual master, nor a husband, nor a kinsman, nor a father, nor a mother, etc. It is the duty of the superior to give fearlessness to the subordinate. To take charge of someone, therefore, either as father, mother, spiritual master, relative or husband, one must accept the responsibility to give his ward freedom from the fearful situation of material existence. Material existence is always fearful and full of anxiety. DevahÅ«ti is saying, “You have given me all sorts of material comforts by your yogic power, and since you are now prepared to go away, you must give me your last award so that I may get free from this material, conditional life.â€