Shloka 20
Nārada Instructs Prācīnabarhiṣat: The Purañjana Narrative Begins
City of Nine Gates
यदृच्छयागतां तत्र ददर्श प्रमदोत्तमाम् । भृत्यैर्दशभिरायान्तीमेकैकशतनायकै: ॥ २० ॥
yadṛcchayāgatāṁ tatra dadarśa pramadottamām bhṛtyair daśabhir āyāntīm ekaika-śata-nāyakaiḥ
While roaming about that wondrous garden, King Purañjana suddenly beheld a woman of surpassing beauty, walking as if unoccupied. Ten attendants accompanied her, and each attendant was followed by hundreds of wives.
The body has already been compared to a beautiful garden. During youth the sex impulse is awakened, and the intelligence, according to one’s imagination, is prone to contact the opposite sex. In youth a man or woman is in search of the opposite sex by intelligence or imagination, if not directly. The intelligence influences the mind, and the mind controls the ten senses. Five of these senses gather knowledge, and five work directly. Each sense has many desires to be fulfilled. This is the position of the body and the owner of the body, purañjana, who is within the body.
FAQs
It describes Purañjana seeing a remarkably beautiful young woman arriving with ten attendants and many sub-leaders—setting up the allegory in which the soul becomes attracted and then engages with the senses and their many functions.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī is narrating to King Parīkṣit, continuing the allegorical history of King Purañjana to teach spiritual lessons about embodied life.
It cautions that attraction can begin “by chance,” and quickly expands into many engagements; mindful regulation of the senses and deliberate spiritual practice help prevent being carried away by uncontrolled desires.