What the seven sages meant here is that Parvati was being misled into believing
Narad that she can lead a happy householder’s life by marrying Shiva. Didn’t she
know that Shiva lives like an ascetic; in fact he was a patron god of all ascetics?
Didn’t she know that he has no permanent house, but lives alone in the mountainous
caves of Mt. Kailash? Didn’t she know that he has taken a vow of not marrying
anybody after the incident of Sati defying his advice and assuming the form of Sita?
They meant “Isin’t she being stupid to expect the impossible prospect of being
happily married to a renunciate ascetic such as Shiva just because a sage named
Narad, who is reputed to turn creatures away from getting entangled in worldly
affairs, advised her to do Tapa to do so, knowing fully well that Shiva is a reclusive
ascetic and can never qualify as a good householder? Isin’t she dull-witted and a
block-head in the given circumstances to believe Narad and pursue a path that would
not give her happiness, but ridicule her intead?”]øı0. Œë¿U‚ÈÃã„U ©U¬Œ‚Áã„U ¡Êß ̧ – ÁÃã„U Á»§Á⁄U ÷flŸÈ Ÿ ŒπÊ •Êß ̧H 1H
caupā’ī.
dacchasutanha upadēsēnhi jā'ī. tinha phiri bhavanu na dēkhā ā'ī. 1.
[The Sapta-rishis said to Parvati—] ‘He (Narad) went and gave some advice to the
sons of Daksha^1. The result was that they did not come back to see their homes again.
[After hearing Narad’s advice, the sons of Daksha developed profound renunciation in
their hearts, and so they took to the lives of a ‘Sanyasi’, i.e. the life of a renunciate
mendicant or hermit. They decided not to do Tapa to start a family, and instead do it
to attain liberation and deliverance from the cycle of birth and death. They therefore
renounced the world completely, never to return home.]^2 (1)
[Note—^1 The word “Daksha” means one who is wise, skilled and expert in things.
Narad had motivated the thousands of sons of Daksha to renounce the world, forego
family life and become mendicants. What the Sapta-rishsis meant to tell Parvati is
that when even the sons of an expert father like Daksha were misled by Narad to
renounce their homes, how can anyone expect that the daughter of the king of
mountains who is surely not as wise as Daksha will not be an easy prey to Narad’s
tricks?
If Narad had successfully turned thousands of sons of the wise caretaker of the
world, i.e. Daksha Prajapati who was appointed by the creator Brahma himself
expressly for the purpose of propagating this creation, away from their homes and
become mendicants like himself (i.e. like Narad), forgetting about their duty towards
their father who had ordered them to do Tapa to start the process of creation, what
better can be expected from Narad in the case of Parvati who was also doing Tapa to
marry Lord Shiva and start a home and a family?
So, Parvati must be aware of Narad’s tricks and be careful in following him.
Refer also to Ram Charit Manas, Baal Kand, Chaupai line no. 5 that precedes
Doha no. 60 and note no. 2 that is appended to it.
(^2) The story of Daksha and his sons is narrated in (i) Srimad Bhagwat Maha-Puran,
Skandha 6, Canto 5, verse nos. 1-43, and (ii) Matsya Puran, Canto 5, verse nos. 4-12.
The story in brief is as follows:--Daksha married the daughter of another Prajapati
named Panchajan. From her he begot ten thousand sons who were jointly called
‘Haryashva’. Perhaps the eldest one had this name, and all his siblings were known
after him. {According to Matsya Puran, there were only a thousand sons, and not ten
thousand.}
Since Daksha had a desire to expand his kingdom to all corners of the earth, he
advised his sons to go and do Tapa (penance and austerity) to acquire the ability to