atha viśveśa viśvātman viśva-mūrte sva-keṣu me sneha-pāśam imaṁ chindhi dṛḍhaṁ pāṇḍuṣu vṛṣṇiṣu
Synonyms
atha—therefore; viśva-īśa—the Lord of the Universe; viśva-ātman—the soul of the universe; viśva-mūrte—oh the Personality of universal Form. Swakesa—unto my own kinsmen; sva-keṣu—mine; me—the tie of affection; sneha-pāśam—this; imam—cut off; chindhi—for the Pandavas; dṛḍham—for the Vrisnis also.
Translation
Oh the Lord of the Universe, the Soul of the Universe, the Personality of the Form of the Universe, please, therefore, cut off my tie of affection towards my kinsmen the Pandavas and the Vrishnis.
Purport
A pure devotee of the Lord is ashamed to ask anything in self interest from the Lord. But the householders are sometimes obliged to ask favours from the Lord being bound up by the tie of family affection. Srimati Kunti Devi was conscious of this fact and therefore, she prayed from the Lord to cut off the affectionate tie from her own kinsmen the Pandavas and the Vrishnis. The Pandavas are her own sons and the Vrishnis are the members of her paternal family. Krishna was equally related with both the families. Both the families required the Lord's help because both of them were dependant devotees of the Lord. Srimati Kunti Devi wished Sri Krishna may remain with her sons the Pandavas but doing so her paternal house were to be bereft of the benefit. All these partialities troubled the mind of Kunti and therefore she desired to cut off the affectionate tie.
A pure devotee cuts off the limited ties of affection for family and widens his activities of devotional service for all forgotten souls. The typical example is the band of six Goswamins who followed the path of Lord Chaitanya. All of them belonged to the most enlightened and cultured rich families of the higher castes but for the benefit of the mass of population they left their comfortable home and became regular mendicants. To cut off all family affection means broadening the field of activities. Without doing this nobody can be qualified as Brahmin, a King, a public leader or a devotee of the Lord. The Personality of Godhead as an ideal King showed the example. The Personality of Godhead Sri Ramchandra cut off the tie of affection of His beloved wife for the matter of manifesting the qualities of an ideal king.
Such Personalities as a Brahmin, a devotee, a king or a public leader must be very broadminded in the matter of discharging the respective duties. Weak as she was Srimati Kunti Devi was conscious of this fact and She prayed to be free from such bondage of family affection. The Lord is addressed as the Lord of the Universe, or the Lord of the Universal mind indicating His all powerful ability for cutting the hard knot tie of family affection. Therefore, it is sometimes experienced that the Lord out of His special affinity towards a week devotee, breaks the family affection by force of circumstances by His all powerful energy. By doing so He sets such devotee to become completely dependant on Him and thus clears up the path of his going back to Godhead.