Nitāi: "O Lord of the universe, soul of the universe, O personality of the form of the universe, please, therefore, sever my tie of affection for my kinsmen, the Pāṇḍavas and the Vṛṣṇis."
Prabhupāda:
- atha viśveśa viśvātman
- viśva-mūrte svakeṣu me
- sneha-pāśam imaṁ chindhi
- dṛḍhaṁ pāṇḍuṣu vṛṣṇiṣu
- (SB 1.8.41)
Kuntīdevī is woman. So as a man has got one family, the woman has got two families. Affection... A man has got affection for one family, but a woman has got affection for two families: father's family and husband's family. Therefore he (she) specifically mentions, pāṇḍuṣu. Pāṇḍuṣu means husband's family, and vṛṣṇiṣu, that is father's family. Kṛṣṇa's father, Vasudeva... And Vasudeva's sister is Kuntīdevi. Therefore she belonged to the Vṛṣṇi family, Yadu family, from the father's side. And from the husband's side she belongs to the Kuru family. Actually the pāṇḍuṣu, later on, they became Pāṇḍus because Dhṛtarāṣṭra wanted to separate them from the Kuru family. Both of them, the Dhṛtarāṣṭra's family and Pāṇḍu's family, both of them belonged to the Kuru's family. But because Dhṛtarāṣṭra was very much anxious to separate the Pāṇḍavas, or the sons of his younger brother, Pāṇḍu, from the family, so they were known as Pāṇḍavas, and his own sons were known as Kurus.
So Kuntī is praying. The prayer is very peculiar. What is that peculiar prayer? The prayer is sneha-pāśam imam. Pāśam means "rope." We are bound up by the ropes of affection to the family. This family or that family, everyone is bound up. Ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam (SB 5.5.8). This family combination is māyā because we all, living entities, we are being washed away by the waves of material nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). So just like the waves of the river carry so many straws scattered here and there, and sometimes by whirlwind, all the straws meet together in the water, so our meeting—"I am the father. You are the son. She is the wife. He is the grandson," or "He is father," or "She is..."—in this way, our mixing up in a group of family is exactly like the assembly of some straws in the waves of the river. It has no meaning. Just like the straws, they gather together by the movement of the waves, and again, by the movements of waves, the straws are scattered here and there, here and there, here and... Nowadays it is very practical. Just like I am an Indian. I have my family. You are European, you are American. You have got family. But now where we are from, the family, we scattered. This is practical. We have no more any connection with our father, mother or children. No. We are now gathered in another group, Kṛṣṇa conscious society.