Srimad Bhagavatam — Saptama Skandha, Shloka 37

Nārāyaṇa’s Impartiality, Absorption in Kṛṣṇa, and the Jaya–Vijaya Descent

Prelude to Prahlāda’s History

Devanagari script

पञ्चषड्ढायनार्भाभा: पूर्वेषामपि पूर्वजा: । दिग्वासस: शिशून् मत्वा द्वा:स्थौ तान् प्रत्यषेधताम् ॥ ३७ ॥

Transliteration

pañca-ṣaḍḍhāyanārbhābhāḥ pūrveṣām api pūrvajāḥ dig-vāsasaḥ śiśūn matvā dvāḥ-sthau tān pratyaṣedhatām

Translation

အဲဒီ ရသီလေးပါးသည် မရီချိ စသည့် အခြားသားများထက်ပင် ပိုမိုရှေးကျသော်လည်း အသက် ၅-၆ နှစ်ခန့်ရှိသော အဝတ်မဝတ် ကလေးငယ်များကဲ့သို့ ထင်ရသည်။ သူတို့ကို ကလေးသာမန်ဟု ထင်၍ တံခါးစောင့် ဂျယ နှင့် ဝိဇယ တို့က ဝိုင်ကుంఠသို့ ဝင်ခွင့်မပေး။

Synonyms

• पञ्च-षट्-हायन-अर्भ-आभाः: having the look of five- or six-year-old children
• पञ्च-षट्-हायन-अर्भ-आभाः: Visheshana (विशेषण)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पञ्च (प्रातिपदिक) + षट् (प्रातिपदिक) + हायन (प्रातिपदिक) + अर्भ (प्रातिपदिक) + आभा (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन; समासः—बहुव्रीहि (पञ्चषड्ढायनानाम् अर्भाणाम् इव आभा येषाम् = having the appearance of 5–6-year-old children)

• पूर्वेषाम्: of the earlier ones/ancestors
• पूर्वेषाम्: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/षष्ठी)
• Type: Noun
• Root: पूर्व (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, षष्ठी, बहुवचन

• अपि: even/also
• अपि: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध/अव्यय)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अपि (अव्यय)
• Form: समुच्चय/अप्यर्थक अव्यय (also/even)

• पूर्व-जाः: the elder-born
• पूर्व-जाः: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: पूर्व (प्रातिपदिक) + ज (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन; समासः—तत्पुरुष (पूर्वेभ्यः जाताः = born before/elder)

• दिक्-वाससः: sky-clad (naked)
• दिक्-वाससः: Visheshana (विशेषण)
• Type: Noun
• Root: दिक् (प्रातिपदिक) + वासस् (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचन; समासः—बहुव्रीहि (दिशः एव वासांसि येषाम् = sky-clad/naked)

• शिशून्: children
• शिशून्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: शिशु (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, बहुवचन

• मत्वा: having thought (them to be)
• मत्वा: Purvakala (पूर्वकाल/क्त्वा)
• Type: Verb
• Root: मन् (धातु)
• Form: क्त्वा-प्रत्ययान्त अव्यय (gerund/absolutive)

• द्वाः-स्थौ: the two doorkeepers
• द्वाः-स्थौ: Karta (कर्ता)
• Type: Noun
• Root: द्वार् (प्रातिपदिक) + स्थ (प्रातिपदिक)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, द्विवचन; समासः—तत्पुरुष (द्वारि स्थः = doorkeeper)

• तान्: them
• तान्: Karma (कर्म)
• Type: Noun
• Root: तद् (प्रातिपदिक/सर्वनाम)
• Form: पुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, बहुवचन; सर्वनाम

• प्रति-अषेधताम्: forbade/blocked
• प्रति-अषेधताम्: Kriya (क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: प्रति-षिध् (धातु)
• Form: लङ् (Imperfect/Past), आत्मनेपद, प्रथमपुरुष, द्विवचन; ‘they two forbade/checked’

Purport

In this regard, Śrīla Madhvācārya says in his Tantra-sāra:

Characters & Entities

• Sanaka
• Sanandana
• Sanātana
• Sanat-kumāra
• Jaya
• Vijaya

FAQs

Why did Jaya and Vijaya stop the Kumāras at Vaikuṇṭha?

Because the Kumāras appeared like naked five- or six-year-old boys, the gatekeepers mistook them for ordinary children and attempted to restrict their entry, setting the stage for the well-known offense and curse narrative.

What does Srimad Bhagavatam teach about judging devotees by external appearance?

This verse highlights that exalted beings may appear simple externally; spiritual vision requires humility and discernment rather than judging by age, dress, or outward form.

How can this shloka be applied in modern devotional life?

Do not dismiss sincere practitioners due to external differences; avoid gatekeeping and cultivate respectful behavior, since mistakes toward devotees can create serious obstacles in bhakti.