Padma Purana — Bhumi Khanda, Shloka 20
Dialogue with the Parrot-Sage: Lineage, Ignorance, and the Vow of Learning
एवमाकर्ण्य तत्तस्य पितुर्वाक्यं मयाशुभम् । नाहं तात गमिष्यामि गुरोर्गेहं सुदुःखदम्
evamākarṇya tattasya piturvākyaṃ mayāśubham | nāhaṃ tāta gamiṣyāmi gurorgehaṃ suduḥkhadam
পিতৃৰ সেই অশুভ বাক্য শুনি মই ক’লোঁ: “তাত, মই গুৰুগৃহলৈ নাযাম; সেয়া অতি দুঃখদায়ক।”
Unspecified narrator/son addressing his father (first-person voice in the verse)
Primary Rasa: karuna
Secondary Rasa: bhayanaka
Sandhi Resolution Notes: एवम् + आकर्ण्य → एवमाकर्ण्य; न + अहम् → नाहम्; पितुः + वाक्यम् → पितुर्वाक्यम्; मया + अशुभम् → मयाशुभम्; गुरोः + गेहम् → गुरोर्गेहम्
FAQs
The speaker expresses distress and refusal, calling the guru’s residence “suduḥkhadam” (a place that brings great sorrow), indicating fear or aversion to a difficult obligation.
Not necessarily. The verse reports the speaker’s reaction to an “aśubha” (inauspicious) statement and frames the guru’s house as personally painful; the broader chapter context is needed to know whether the refusal is justified or later corrected.
It highlights the tension between personal suffering and duty (going to the guru). The verse invites reflection on how one responds to hardship when it is connected to authority figures like father and teacher.