प्रायेणाभ्यर्चितो देवो येऽप्रजा गृहमेधिनः ।
कदपत्यभृतं दुःखं ये न विन्दन्ति दुर्भरम् ॥४३॥

prÄyeṇÄbhyarcito devo
ye 'prajÄ gá¹›ha-medhinaḥ
kad-apatya-bhá¹›taá¹ duḥkhaá¹
ye na vindanti durbharam

 prÄyeṇa - probably; abhyarcitaḥ - was worshiped; devaḥ - the Lord; ye - they who; aprajÄḥ - without a son; gá¹›ha-medhinaḥ - persons living at home; kad-apatya - by a bad son; bhá¹›tam - caused; duḥkham - unhappiness; ye - they who; na - not; vindanti - suffer; durbharam - unbearable.


Text

The King thought to himself: Persons who have no son are certainly fortunate. They must have worshiped the Lord in their previous lives so that they would not have to suffer the unbearable unhappiness caused by a bad son.

Purport

It is said that a married couple must have a son, otherwise their family life is void. But a son born without good qualities is as good as a blind eye. A blind eye has no use for seeing, but it is simply unbearably painful. The King therefore thought himself very unfortunate to have such a bad son.