यत्कृते पितरः पुत्राञ्जनयन्ति शुभार्थिनः।
परलोकहितार्थाय तस्य कालोऽयमागतः॥
yat-kṛte pitaraḥ putrāñ janayanti śubhārthinaḥ
para-loka-hitārthāya tasya kālo ‘yam āgataḥ
yat-kṛte = to attain which; pitaraḥ = fathers; putrān = sons; janayanti = beget; śubha-arthinaḥ = desiring auspiciousness; para-loka-hitārthāya = to procure piety for one’s next life; tasya kālaḥ ayam āgataḥ = the time has arrived.
The time to procure piety for one’s next life, to attain which fathers desiring auspiciousness beget sons, has arrived.
1 Jīvato vākya-karaṇāt pratyabdaṁ parvanena ca, gayāyāṁ piṇḍa-dānena tribhiḥ putrasya putratā: “A son is a putra [or a deliverer of his father from hell] when he carries out the instructions of his father while [the father is] alive, when he carries out the annual ceremony [of offering annual oblations to his departed father] and when he offers his respectful oblations unto his forefathers at Gayā.” (Also found in Vikrama-carita [southern recension] 4.3) Of course, it is implicit that if the instructions of a father are not in line with Vedic dharma, they are to be rejected. A father’s instructions that are within the bounds of Vedic dharma are meant to be taken seriously.
Viśvāmitra wanted to point out that the time for him and his sons to procure piety for their next lives had arrived. According to the Smṛti, jīvato vākya-karaṇāt: “[A son is a son] when he carries out his father’s order while [the father is] alive.”1