Canto 1 - Boyhood
Bāla-kāṇḍa
Chapter 39: Sagara’s Sons Search for the Sacrificial Horse
Text 1.39.26
अयं यज्ञहरोऽस्माकमनेनाश्वोऽपनीयते।
इति ते सर्वभूतानि निघ्नन्ति सगरात्मजाः॥
ayaṁ yajña-haro ’smākam anenāśvo ’panīyate
iti te sarva-bhūtāni nighnanti sagarātmajāḥ
ayam yajña-haraḥ asmākam = these creatures have destroyed our sacrifice; anena aśvaḥ apanīyate = and stolen our sacrificial horse; iti = thinking; te sarva-bhūtāni nighnanti sagara-ātmajāḥ = Sagara‘s sons are destroying all creatures.
Thinking, “These creatures have destroyed our sacrifice and stolen our sacrificial horse,” Sagara’s sons are destroying all creatures!
1 But the meaning is the same.
Some manuscripts read yajña-hanaḥ instead of yajña-haraḥ.1
NOTE. It has already been noted that the demigods are devotees of the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu. As such, they are friends of all the creatures of the world because “a devotee of the Lord always looks to the welfare of all living entities, and in this way he is factually the friend of everyone.” (Bhagavad-gītā 6.32 purport) Therefore, they could not tolerate the pain inflicted by Sagara’s sons on the creatures of the netherworld.