साहं तपश्चरिष्यामि गर्भं मे दातुमर्हसि।
ईश्वरं शक्रहन्तारं त्वमनुज्ञातुमर्हसि॥
sāhaṁ tapaś cariṣyāmi garbhaṁ me dātum arhasi
īśvaraṁ śakra-hantāraṁ tvam anujñātum arhasi
sā aham = I; tapaḥ = austerity [for this purpose]; cariṣyāmi = will perform; garbham = a son; me = me; dātum arhasi = please give; īśvaram = who can control the three worlds; śakra-hantāram = and who will kill Indra; tvam anujñātum arhasi = please permit to perform this austerity.
I will perform austerity [for this purpose]. Please give me a son who can control the three worlds and who will kill Indra. Please permit me to perform this austerity.
1 One achieves residence in the higher planets by accumulating piety (puṇya) which is earned through meticulous adherence to all Vedic injunctions that are relevant to one’s situation in life. If a woman in the heavenly planets disobeys the scriptural injunctions relevant to her situation, she will lose such piety, which will disastrously result in her falling down from her achieved position in the heavenly region. Loss of such piety is also detrimental to spiritual progress for devotees of the Supreme Lord who desire dharma, artha and kāma now and liberation later. These devotees constitute the vast majority of the Vaiṣṇava population in material existence.
In some manuscripts, īdṛśam appears in place of īśvaram. Nevertheless, the intended meaning is still the same. [The meaning of the second sentence would then be: “Please give me a son who can kill Indra.”] Diti seeks her husband’s permission, for a woman is not independent and so she cannot engage in austerities without the permission of her husband.1
NOTE. Diti’s determination was in the mode of passion for she wanted results within the framework of dharma, artha and kāma:
yayā tu dharma-kāmārthān dhṛtyā dhārayate ’rjuna
prasaṅgena phalākāṅkṣī dhṛtiḥ sā pārtha rājasī
“But that determination by which one holds fast to fruitive results in religion, economic development and sense gratification is of the nature of passion, O Arjuna.” (Bhagavad-gītā 18.34)