गृहस्थकर्त्तव्यानिThe duties of the householder
Verse 22
श्रीसदाशिव उवाच । गार्हस्थ्यं प्रथमं धर्मं सर्वेषां मनुजन्मनाम् । तदेव कथयाम्यादौ शृणु कौलिनि तत्त्वतः ॥ २२ ॥
śrīsadāśiva uvāca | gārhasthyaṁ prathamaṁ dharmaṁ sarvēṣāṁ manujanmanām | tadēva kathayāmyādau śṛṇu kaulini tattvataḥ || 22 ||
Translation
Sadāśiva said: The householder's life is the first dharma of all who are born as human beings; that I tell first: listen truly, Kaulinī.
Word by word
- gārhasthyaṁ
- the householder's life
- prathamaṁ
- the first
- dharmaṁ
- dharma
- sarvēṣāṁ
- of all
- manu
- as human beings
- janmanām
- of those born
- tad
- (tat) that
- ēva
- indeed
- kathayāmi
- (kathayāmi) I tell
- ādau
- first
- śṛṇu
- listen
- kaulini
- O Kaulinī
- tattvataḥ
- truly
Meaning
Śiva begins with the householder because, the commentary says, for every human being the household is the first dharma: everyone is born into it, and everyone depends on it, the renunciant included, who lives on its alms. Pārvatī is addressed as Kaulinī, the woman of the kula: the household dharma that follows is taught within the Kaula frame of the whole Tantra.
Commentary
Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated
Thus urged by Śrī Devī, Śrī Sadāśiva spoke, beginning "gārhasthyam…". O Kaulinī, since for all those born as human beings, for men, the householder's work is the first dharma, therefore I tell that dharma first; you hear it truly: this is the construction.