Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 9.3.21

katham matis te 'vagatanyatha satam

kula-prasute kula-dusanam tv idam

bibharsi jaram yad apatrapa kulam

pitus ca bhartus ca nayasy adhas tamah

SYNONYMS

katham -- how; matih te -- your consciousness; avagata -- has gone down; anyatha -- otherwise; satam -- of the most respectable; kula-prasute -- O my daughter, born in the family; kula-dusanam -- who are the degradation of the family; tu -- but; idam -- this; bibharsi -- you are maintaining; jaram -- a paramour; yat -- as it is; apatrapa -- without shame; kulam -- the dynasty; pituh -- of your father; ca -- and; bhartuh -- of your husband; ca -- and; nayasi -- you are bringing down; adhah tamah -- downward into darkness or hell.

TRANSLATION

O my daughter, who were born in a respectable family, how have you degraded your consciousness in this way? How is it that you are shamelessly maintaining a paramour? You will thus degrade the dynasties of both your father and your husband to hellish life.

PURPORT

It is quite clear that according to Vedic culture a woman who accepts a paramour or second husband in the presence of the husband she has married is certainly responsible for the degradation of her father's family and the family of her husband. The rules of Vedic culture in this regard are strictly observed in the respectable families of brahmanas, ksatriyas and vaisyas even today; only the sudras are degraded in this matter. For a woman of the brahmana, ksatriya or vaisya class to accept another husband in the presence of the husband she has married, or to file for divorce or accept a boyfriend or paramour, is unacceptable in the Vedic culture. Therefore King Saryati, who did not know the real facts of Cyavana Muni's transformation, was surprised to see the behavior of his daughter.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness