Shloka 6
Purañjana Captivated by Lust; Time (Caṇḍavega) and Old Age (Kālakanyā) Begin the Siege
तस्यामजनयत्पुत्रान् पुरञ्जन्यां पुरञ्जन: । शतान्येकादश विराडायुषोऽर्धमथात्यगात् ॥ ६ ॥
tasyām ajanayat putrān purañjanyāṁ purañjanaḥ śatāny ekādaśa virāḍ āyuṣo ’rdham athātyagāt
El rey Purañjana engendró en el vientre de su esposa Purañjanī mil cien hijos; mas en ese afán doméstico se consumió la mitad de su larga vida.
In this verse there are several significant words, the first of which are ekādaśa śatāni. Purañjana had begotten 1,100 sons within the womb of his wife and thus passed away half of his life. Actually every man follows a similar process. If one lives for one hundred years at the utmost, in his family life he simply begets children up to the age of fifty. Unfortunately at the present moment people do not live even a hundred years; nonetheless they beget children up to the age of sixty. Another point is that formerly people used to beget one hundred to two hundred sons and daughters. As will be evident from the next verse, King Purañjana not only begot 1,100 sons but also 110 daughters. At the present moment no one can produce such huge quantities of children. Instead, mankind is very busy checking the increase of population by contraceptive methods.
FAQs
This verse highlights Purañjana’s entanglement in worldly life—producing offspring and spending a large portion of life in material duties—supporting the chapter’s allegory that attachment binds the soul to repeated birth and death.
Śukadeva continues the allegorical narration to show how the conditioned being, identifying with the body and spouse-like attachments, expands material involvement through family and progeny, deepening karmic ties.
It reminds a seeker to balance responsibilities with devotion—using family life in Kṛṣṇa’s service—so that time is not lost solely in expansion of worldly identity and attachment.