स पुत्राञ् जनयाम् आस गौतमादीन् महायशाः ॥
ऋषेर् उतथ्यस्य तदा संतानकुलवृद्धये ॥
लोभमोहाभिभूतास् ते पुत्रास् तं गौतमादयः ॥
काष्ठे समुद्गे प्रक्षिप्य गङ्गायां समवासृजन् ॥
न स्याद् अन्धश् च वृद्धश् च भर्तव्यो ऽयम् इति स्म ते ॥
चिन्तयित्वा ततः क्रूराः प्रतिजग्मुर् अथो गृहान् ॥
सो ऽनुस्रोतस् तदा राजन् प्लवमान ऋषिस् ततः ॥
जगाम सुबहून् देशान् अन्धस् तेनोडुपेन ह ॥
sa putrāñ janayām āsa gautamādīn mahāyaśāḥ ||
ṛṣer utathyasya tadā saṃtānakulavṛddhaye ||
lobhamohābhibhūtās te putrās taṃ gautamādayaḥ ||
kāṣṭhe samudge prakṣipya gaṅgāyāṃ samavāsṛjan ||
na syād andhaś ca vṛddhaś ca bhartavyo 'yam iti sma te ||
cintayitvā tataḥ krūrāḥ pratijagmur atho gṛhān ||
so 'nusrotas tadā rājan plavamāna ṛṣis tataḥ ||
jagāma subahūn deśān andhas tenoḍupena ha ||
"He, the greatly glorious one, begot sons — Gautama and the rest — then, for the increase of the offspring and lineage of the sage Utathya. But those sons, Gautama and the rest, overpowered by greed and delusion, having cast him into a wooden box, set him adrift upon the Ganga. 'We ought not to support this blind and old man' — thinking thus, those cruel sons then returned to their homes. And that sage, O king, drifting then with the current, passed through many lands, blind, upon that raft."
209cee586933 · प्रकाशित 12 जुल॰ 2026, 4:16:47 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Here the black ingratitude of Dirghatamas's sons reveals itself. It is telling that his own sons, "overpowered by greed and delusion," abandon their blind and aged father to perish, unwilling to bear the duty of supporting him. This is a fearsome image of the adharma of Kali-yuga: the decline of reverence for parents, when children value a parent only for his usefulness and cast off the one grown frail. This is a most grave sin, for father and mother, after God, are the first to whom service and gratitude are owed. The words "greed and delusion" are telling: greed blinds the heart, while delusion (moha) extinguishes the discernment of good from evil; together they drive one to villainy against one's own parent. It becomes clear here that without devotion to the Lord, morality has no firm footing: even the sons of a great sage, bereft of true dharma in their hearts, prove capable of cruelty. And the image of the blind old man helplessly drifting down the river is a moving one: the righteous may be forsaken by those near him, yet he is not abandoned by providence — deliverance awaits him ahead. Thus scripture reveals both the depth of human ingratitude and the truth that the Lord does not abandon His devotee even in the direst distress.