Shloka 46
Dhruva-vaṁśa Continuation: Utkala’s Renunciation, Aṅga’s Sacrifice, and the Birth of Vena
Prelude to Pṛthu
कदपत्यं वरं मन्ये सदपत्याच्छुचां पदात् । निर्विद्येत गृहान्मर्त्यो यत्क्लेशनिवहा गृहा: ॥ ४६ ॥
kad-apatyaṁ varaṁ manye sad-apatyāc chucāṁ padāt nirvidyeta gṛhān martyo yat-kleśa-nivahā gṛhāḥ
Then the King thought: A bad son is better than a good son, for a good son increases attachment to home, whereas a bad son does not. A bad son makes the home like hell, and thus an intelligent man naturally becomes detached from it.
The King began to think in terms of attachment and detachment from one’s material home. According to Prahlāda Mahārāja, the material home is compared to a blind well. If a man falls down into a blind well, it is very difficult to get out of it and begin life again. Prahlāda Mahārāja has advised that one give up this blind well of home life as soon as possible and go to the forest to take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. According to Vedic civilization, this giving up of home by vānaprastha and sannyāsa is compulsory. But people are so attached to their homes that even up to the point of death they do not like to retire from home life. King Aṅga, therefore, thinking in terms of detachment, accepted his bad son as a good impetus for detachment from home life. He therefore considered his bad son his friend since he was helping him become detached from his home. Ultimately one has to learn how to detach oneself from attachment to material life; therefore if a bad son, by his bad behavior, helps a householder to go away from home, it is a boon.
FAQs
This verse states that a mortal should become detached from home because household life often becomes a heap of anxieties and miseries.
In the narrative around King Vena, Sunīthā reflects that even a “good” son who causes grief is undesirable, and she points to the deeper lesson that worldly family entanglement leads to suffering and thus calls for detachment.
Perform duties responsibly but reduce attachment—prioritize sādhana, humility, and service, and don’t base happiness solely on family outcomes, remembering that worldly arrangements can bring unavoidable distress.