Canto 1 - Boyhood
Bāla-kāṇḍa
Chapter 38: The History of Sagara
Text 1.38.15
प्रदक्षिणमृषिं कृत्वा शिरसाभिप्रणम्य च।
जगाम स्वपुरं राजा सभार्यो रघुनन्दन॥
pradakṣiṇam ṛṣiṁ kṛtvā śirasābhipraṇamya ca
jagāma sva-puraṁ rājā sabhāryo raghu-nandana
pradakṣiṇam ṛṣim kṛtvā = circumambulated the sage Bhṛgu; śirasā = with their heads; abhipraṇamya ca = offered him obeisances and; jagāma = went; sva-puram = to their city; rājā = the king; sa-bhāryaḥ = and his wives; raghu-nandana = O beloved child of the Raghus.
O beloved child of the Raghus, the king and his wives circumambulated the sage Bhṛgu, offered him obeisances with their heads and went to their city.
NOTE. As it will become obvious in this chapter and in the next few chapters, the one son of one queen left Ayodhyā for good and the sixty-thousand sons of the other queen died brutually, causing much pain to King Sagara’s mind. Such are the unavoidable miseries of material existence caused by not surrendering unto the Supreme Lord.
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains: “In human society, aversion to the principles of understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the cause of all falldowns. That is the greatest offense of human life. Therefore, māyā, the material energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is always giving us trouble in the shape of the threefold miseries.” (Bhagavad-gītā 16.24 purport) Elsewhere, he has stated: “The threefold miseries are (1) those miseries which arise from the mind and body, (2) those miseries inflicted by other living beings, and (3) those miseries arising from natural catastrophes, over which one has no control.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.2 purport)
We already saw in Rāmāyaṇa 1.1.90 that when Lord Rāma ruled His kingdom, the citizens were fully surrendered unto Him and therefore never experienced these threefold miseries.