यवीयसः सप्त सुतान्सप्त द्रविडभूभृतः ॥३०॥
tasyÄá¹ sa janayÄá¹ cakra
ÄtmajÄm asiteká¹£aṇÄm
yavÄ«yasaḥ sapta sutÄn
sapta draviá¸a-bhÅ«bhá¹›taḥ
tasyÄm - through her; saḥ - the King; janayÄm cakre - begot; ÄtmajÄm - daughter; asita - blue or black; Ä«ká¹£aṇÄm - whose eyes; yavÄ«yasaḥ - younger, very powerful; sapta - seven; sutÄn - sons; sapta - seven; draviá¸a - province of Draviá¸a, or South India; bhÅ« - of the land; bhá¹›taḥ - kings.
King Malayadhvaja fathered one daughter, who had very black eyes. He also had seven sons, who later became rulers of that tract of land known as Draviá¸a. Thus there were seven kings in that land.
King Malayadhvaja was a great devotee, and after he married the daughter of King Vidarbha, he gave her one nice daughter, whose eyes were black. Figuratively this means that the daughter of King Malayadhvaja was also bestowed with devotional service, for her eyes were always fixed on Kṛṣṇa. A devotee has no vision in his life other than Kṛṣṇa. The seven sons are the seven processes of devotional service — hearing, chanting, remembering, offering worship, offering prayers, rendering transcendental loving service and serving the lotus feet of the Lord. Of the nine types of devotional service, only seven were immediately given. The balance — friendship and surrendering everything — were to be developed later. In other words, devotional service is divided into two categories, namely vidhi-mÄrga and rÄga-mÄrga. The process of becoming friends with the Lord and sacrificing everything for Him belongs to the category of rÄga-mÄrga, the stage of developed devotional service. For the neophyte, the important processes are those of hearing and chanting (Å›ravaṇaá¹ kÄ«rtanam), remembering Kṛṣṇa, worshiping the Deity in the temple, offering prayers, always engaging in the service of the Lord, and worshiping the lotus feet of the Lord.
The word yavÄ«yasaḥ indicates that these processes are very powerful. After a devotee engages in the processes of Å›ravaṇaá¹ kÄ«rtanaá¹ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaá¹ pÄda-sevanam/ arcanaá¹ vandanaá¹ dÄsyam, and is able to secure these processes, he can later become a devotee capable of rendering spontaneous devotional service, namely sakhyam and Ätma-nivedanam. Generally the great ÄcÄryas who preach devotional service all over the world belong to the category of sakhyam Ätma-nivedanam. A neophyte devotee cannot actually become a preacher. The neophyte is advised to execute devotional service in the seven other fields (Å›ravaṇaá¹ kÄ«rtanam, etc.). If one can successfully execute the preliminary seven items, he can in the future be situated on the platform of sakhyam Ätma-nivedanam.
The specific mention of Draviá¸a-deÅ›a refers to the five Draviá¸a-deÅ›as in South India. All are very strong in rendering the preliminary devotional processes (Å›ravaṇaá¹ kÄ«rtanam). Some great ÄcÄryas, like RÄmÄnujÄcÄrya and MadhvÄcÄrya, also came from Draviá¸a-deÅ›a and became great preachers. They were all situated on the platform of sakhyam Ätma-nivedanam.
