SB 06.01.24 tasya pravayasah putra... cited

Expressions researched:
"balo narayano namna" |"dasa tesam tu yo vamah" |"pitros ca dayito bhrsam" |"tasya pravayasah putra"

SB Canto 6

SB 6.1.24, Translation and Purport:

That old man Ajāmila had ten sons, of whom the youngest was a baby named Nārāyaṇa. Since Nārāyaṇa was the youngest of all the sons, he was naturally very dear to both his father and his mother.

The word pravayasaḥ indicates Ajāmila's sinfulness because although he was eighty-eight years old, he had a very young child. According to Vedic culture, one should leave home as soon as he has reached fifty years of age; one should not live at home and go on producing children. Sex life is allowed for twenty-five years, between the ages of twenty-five and forty-five or, at the most, fifty. After that one should give up the habit of sex life and leave home as a vānaprastha and then properly take sannyāsa. Ajāmila, however, because of his association with a prostitute, lost all brahminical culture and became most sinful, even in his so-called household life.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 6.1.22 -- Indore, December 13, 1970:

In this way, when he was about eighty years old, at that time, time came when he was to die.

tasya pravayasaḥ putrā

daśa teṣāṁ tu yo avamaḥ

bālo nārāyaṇo nāmnā

pitroś ca dayito bhṛśam

Out of his many children, elderly children... He was eighty years old. They were all elderly children, grown up children, and there were ten, ten elderly children. Out of them, tesam tu yo avamaḥ, the youngest child, youngest child was named as Nārāyaṇa. Tasya pravayasaḥ putrā daśa teṣāṁ tu yo avamaḥ . Bālo, "a boy," nārāyaṇo nāmnā, "his name was Nārāyaṇa." Pitroś ca dayito bhṛśam. Naturally the youngest child becomes very favorite to the parents. So this Ajāmila was very much attached to the youngest child. Sa baddha-hṛdayas tasminn arbhake kala-bhāṣiṇi. The youngest child, naturally... This is the attraction of family life. When a small baby smiles, immediately the father, mother and relatives become attracted. When the child begins to talk broken language, they enjoy. Unless this attraction is there, it is not possible to raise the child with affection. That is natural. That affection is even in the animals. You'll find a dog, even a tiger, everyone. That affection is there in the every... Monkey. I have seen it practically. In Kanpur I was staying in a room, and one monkey came with a child, and the child somehow or other entered into the window through the bars and the mother became mad. She thought, "My child is gone." She became mad. So somehow or other, again I pushed that monkey out of the bars, and immediately she embraced the child and took away. Just see. The affection is there.

Lecture on SB 6.1.24 -- Chicago, July 8, 1975:

Nitāi: "Ajāmila had ten sons. The youngest son, named Nārāyaṇa, was a child begotten while Ajāmila was very old. Because he was the youngest son, he was naturally very dear to his father and mother."

Prabhupāda:

tasya pravayasaḥ putrā

daśa teṣāṁ tu yo 'vamaḥ

bālo nārāyaṇo nāmnā

pitroś ca dayito bhṛśam

(SB 6.1.24)

So a small child of very old man, because when the child, baby, is within two, three years, they are taken care of especially by the parents. And the youngest son, when the child is two, three years, naturally he is youngest. So youngest is taken more care. Sneha, affection, is compared with oil. Sneha means oil. So affection is just like oil. Why? Now, you put oil in the ground, it will glide down where there is slope. So generally, the affection goes down to the youngest child. The particular point in this connection is pravayasaḥ. Pravayasaḥ means very old. Yes, he was eighty-eight years old. So this child might be three years or two years, less than three years. That means when he was eighty-five or eighty-six he begot a child. This is the purpose, to point out. This is family life. He is going to die after one or two years, and still, he is begetting child. Therefore this word is used, pravayasaḥ. This is not proper life that up to the point of death one has to beget a child. This is animal life. Human life, maximum fifty years, that's all. After that, by force, pañcāśordhvaṁ vanaṁ vrajet, give up this family life. And if you don't give up, then you remain and go on begetting children. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham (SB 7.9.45). What is the happiness of this gṛhamedhī life, attached to family life? The only happiness is this sex, that's all. Otherwise there is no happiness. They are working day and night. Therefore, at the present moment the tendency is to kill the child. Because to enjoy sex life means there must be pregnancy. But when there is pregnancy, either illicit or..., legal or illegal, the child-bearing, the giving birth to the child, then taking care of it, then growing, raising, feeding him, education—so many troubles there is. But tṛpyanti neha kṛpaṇā bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ (SB 7.9.45).

Lecture on SB 6.1.24 -- Chicago, July 8, 1975:

So here it is said, tasya pravayasaḥ putrā daśa. So in his so-called gṛhamedhī life... That I was going to explain. Gṛhamedhī life means darkness. He will know simply how to beget child, that's all, up to the eighty-fifth year. He is going to die next moment. So he is fortunate that he named his son Nārāyaṇa. This is God's grace. This was done—Kṛṣṇa is so kind—because in his youthhood he was a devotee. Not devotee; he was trying to become a devotee. Dvija, he was initiated. We have begun his life that kānyakubje kaścid dvijaḥ. He was initiated, but he fell down. Later on, he fell down in contact with a prostitute. Therefore he lost his all qualification, and he was busy... Instead of serving Kṛṣṇa, he was busy in begetting children, up to the eighty-fifth year. Therefore pravayasaḥ. Although he had made... The last one is tenth. Although he had nine sons, still, at the eighty-fifth year he is begetting another. That is called kṛpaṇa.

Lecture on SB 6.1.24 -- Chicago, July 8, 1975:

So we should not be like this Ajāmila, go on begetting children, children, children, children, up to eighty-fifth year. No. Teṣāṁ yaḥ avamaḥ. The most junior, the small, the latest edition, they are very much fond, father and mother. It is said, bālo nārāyaṇo nāmnā pitroś ca dayito bhṛśam. Pitroḥ, pitroḥ means parents, father and mother, naturally, dayitaḥ, very merciful upon him than all other, bhṛśam, sufficiently. So the idea is that by God's grace, because in the beginning of his life he engaged himself to be Kṛṣṇa conscious, and he was initiated, but later on... But the first assessment of his life, that helped him that Kṛṣṇa gave him the advice, "All right, you keep your this youngest son's name Nārāyaṇa, because you will be naturally attached to this boy and you will call him, 'Nārāyaṇa, please come here. Nārāyaṇa, take your food. Nārāyaṇa, take your drink.' So you will chant 'Nārāyaṇa.' "

Lecture on SB 6.1.24 -- Honolulu, May 24, 1976:

Prabhupāda: (leads chanting, etc.)

tasya pravayasaḥ putrā

daśa teṣāṁ tu yo 'vamaḥ

bālo nārāyaṇo nāmnā

pitroś ca dayito bhṛśam

(SB 6.1.24)

So he was engaged in maintaining the family. Everyone is engaged like that. Cats and dogs also do that. It is not very extraordinary thing. Sometimes they say, "It is my duty." Yes, it is duty, but the prime duty is to solve the real problems: how to stop mṛtyu, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9). That we forget. Minor duties we take priority. That is the present situation. They do not know that there is life after death, and according to our karma, we are getting the next life. This morning we were discussing, Kṛṣṇa is always ready. Automatically it is going on. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa saṅgo 'sya (BG 13.22). As you desire according to the contamination of different modes of material nature, immediately the body's ready. Immediately after death.