शतं क्रतूनामाहृत्य देवराट् त्रिदिवं गतः।
तपांस्युग्राणि चास्थाय दिवं याता महर्षयः॥
śataṁ kratūnām āhṛtya devarāṭ tridivaṁ gataḥ
tapāṁsy ugrāṇi cāsthāya divaṁ yātā maha-rṣayaḥ
śatam kratūnām = a hundred sacrifices; āhṛtya = a man performing; devarāṭ = has become the king of the devas; tridivam = the heavens; gataḥ = reached; tapāṁsi = austerities; ugrāṇi = terrible; ca = and; āsthāya = by performing; divam = to the heavens; yātā = have gone; mahā-ṛṣayaḥ = great sages.
A man performing a hundred sacrifices has become the king of the devas and reached the heavens. By performing terrible austerities, great sages have gone to the heavens.1
1 Text 1.50.15 notes King Janaka telling Viśvāmitra—dvādaśāhaṁ tu brahma-rṣe śeṣam āhur manīṣiṇaḥ / tato bhāgārthino devān draṣṭum arhasi kauśika: “O brahmarṣi, the sacrificial priests tell me that twelve more days remain for this sacrifice to finish. O Kauśika, then you should see the demigods coming to pick up their respective shares [of sacrificial offerings].” It is clear from this that the devas would appear in public during such sacrifices which explains why the public would gather to observe such sacrifices. Therefore, the reference to becoming devas in this and the previous verse in this chapter of the Rāmāyaṇa is reasonable. If you reside near an apple tree and hear a thud and conclude that an apple has fallen even without looking at it, it is reasonable if you have already seen and heard apples fall with a thud. Similarly it is reasonable to refer to becoming devas and the like if you have directly perceived the devas and so on.
1 This is a reference to text 2.108.15, which will be quoted in the commentary to the next verse. The point is that śrāddha is not prescribed in the Vedic scriptures to be done for a person who is traveling here. It is only to be done for a person who has died. So Jābāli’s objection to the śrāddha performance is invalid.
It is implied here that since there is no scriptural injunction to perform śrāddha for a traveler, there is no defect in the performance of śrāddha rites.1
GLOSS. “Great sages” indicates that their performance of austerities is due to their [intellectual] ascertainment that happiness in the next life is a fact; such performance of austerities is not due to their delusion.
NOTE. Prabhupāda explains in his introduction to Bhagavad-gītā the nature of Vedic knowledge thus:
Vedic knowledge is received from transcendental sources, and the first words were spoken by the Lord Himself. The words spoken by the Lord are called apauruṣeya, meaning that they are different from words spoken by a person of the mundane world who is infected with four defects. A mundaner (1) is sure to commit mistakes, (2) is invariably illusioned, (3) has the tendency to cheat others and (4) is limited by imperfect senses. With these four imperfections, one cannot deliver perfect information of all-pervading knowledge.
Vedic knowledge is not imparted by such defective living entities. It was imparted unto the heart of Brahmā, the first created living being, and Brahmā in his turn disseminated this knowledge to his sons and disciples, as he originally received it from the Lord.