Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 9.18.22
Ūti· What drives us to actRespect, Anger, and Providence
“Because of falling in the well, I met you. Indeed, this has been arranged by providence. After I cursed Kaca, the son of the learned scholar Bṛhaspati, he cursed me by saying that I would not have a brāhmaṇa for a husband. Therefore, O mighty-armed one, there is no possibility of my becoming the wife of a brāhmaṇa.”
What the purport teaches
- Kaca learned mṛta-sañjīvanī from Śukrācārya, an art for reviving someone who had died untimely when the body remained intact.
- Out of regard for Śukrācārya, Kaca treated his teacher's daughter as a respectable superior and refused to marry her. Devayānī cursed him in anger, and he retaliated with a curse that she would never have a brāhmaṇa husband.
- Devayānī therefore asked Yayāti, a kṣatriya, to accept her as his wife. Although this was pratiloma-vivāha, she explained their meeting as an arrangement of providence.
Try this today
If someone refuses a request today, pause before answering and avoid retaliatory words.
Ask yourself
How do I respond when someone declines my wishes out of respect for a principle?
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.