Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 3.31.5
Visarga· Brahmā's creationCare for the Child Is Parents’ Duty
“Deriving its nutrition from the food and drink taken by the mother, the fetus grows and remains in that abominable residence of stools and urine, which is the breeding place of all kinds of worms.”
What the purport teaches
- The child depends completely on the mother’s assimilated food and grows day by day. The purport describes the connecting umbilical cord as āpyāyanī.
- The purport presents Vedic precautions during pregnancy as care for the child’s delicate, newly developing body. It also emphasizes the importance of the garbhādhāna ceremony and other prescribed processes.
- Taking care of the child is the primary duty of the parents. Such care helps bring peace and prosperity to society, the country and the human race.
Try this today
Offer one small practical help to a parent caring for a child today.
Ask yourself
How can I better appreciate the responsibility involved in caring for a dependent child?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
The study points, practice and question are short summaries drawn from Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport. Read the full purport to go deeper.