कथं मतिस्तेऽवगतान्यथा सतां
कुलप्रसूते कुलदूषणं त्विदम् ।
बिभर्षि जारं यदपत्रपा कुलं
पितुश्च भर्तुश्च नयस्यधस्तमः ॥२१॥

kathaá¹ matis te 'vagatÄnyathÄ satÄá¹
kula-prasūte kula-dūṣaṇaṠtv idam
bibhará¹£i jÄraá¹ yad apatrapÄ kulaá¹
pituś ca bhartuś ca nayasy adhas tamaḥ

 katham - how; matiḥ te - your consciousness; avagatÄ - has gone down; anyathÄ - otherwise; satÄm - of the most respectable; kula-prasÅ«te - O my daughter, born in the family; kula-dÅ«á¹£aṇam - who are the degradation of the family; tu - but; idam - this; bibhará¹£i - you are maintaining; jÄram - a paramour; yat - as it is; apatrapÄ - without shame; kulam - the dynasty; pituḥ - of your father; ca - and; bhartuḥ - of your husband; ca - and; nayasi - you are bringing down; adhaḥ tamaḥ - downward into darkness or hell.


Text

O my daughter, who were born in a respectable family, how have you degraded your consciousness in this way? How is it that you are shamelessly maintaining a paramour? You will thus degrade the dynasties of both your father and your husband to hellish life.

Purport

It is quite clear that according to Vedic culture a woman who accepts a paramour or second husband in the presence of the husband she has married is certainly responsible for the degradation of her father’s family and the family of her husband. The rules of Vedic culture in this regard are strictly observed in the respectable families of brÄhmaṇas, ká¹£atriyas and vaiÅ›yas even today; only the śūdras are degraded in this matter. For a woman of the brÄhmaṇa, ká¹£atriya or vaiÅ›ya class to accept another husband in the presence of the husband she has married, or to file for divorce or accept a boyfriend or paramour, is unacceptable in the Vedic culture. Therefore King ÅšaryÄti, who did not know the real facts of Cyavana Muni’s transformation, was surprised to see the behavior of his daughter.