pretāvāseṣu ghoreṣu
pretair bhūta-gaṇair vṛtaḥ
aṭaty unmattavan nagno
vyupta-keśo hasan rudan
citā-bhasma-kṛta-snānaḥ
preta-srań-nrasthi-bhūṣaṇaḥ
śivāpadeśo hy aśivo
matto matta-jana-priyaḥ
patiḥ pramatha-nāthānāḿ
tamo-mātrātmakātmanām
SYNONYMS:
preta-āvāseṣu — at the burning places of dead bodies; ghoreṣu — horrible; pretaiḥ — by the Pretas; bhūta-gaṇaiḥ — by the Bhūtas; vṛtaḥ — accompanied by; aṭati — he wanders; unmatta-vat — like a madman; nagnaḥ — naked; vyupta-keśaḥ — having scattered hair; hasan — laughing; rudan — crying; citā — of the funeral pyre; bhasma — with the ashes; kṛta-snānaḥ — taking bath; preta — of the skulls of dead bodies; srak — having a garland; nṛ-asthi-bhūṣaṇaḥ — ornamented with dead men's bones; śiva-apadeśaḥ — who is śiva, or auspicious, only in name; hi — for; aśivaḥ — inauspicious; mattaḥ — crazy; matta-jana-priyaḥ — very dear to the crazy beings; patiḥ — the leader; pramatha-nāthānām — of the lords of the Pramathas; tamaḥ-mātra-ātmaka-ātmanām — of those grossly in the mode of ignorance.
TRANSLATION:
He lives in filthy places like crematoriums, and his companions are the ghosts and demons. Naked like a madman, sometimes laughing and sometimes crying, he smears crematorium ashes all over his body. He does not bathe regularly, and he ornaments his body with a garland of skulls and bones. Therefore only in name is he Śiva, or auspicious; actually, he is the most mad and inauspicious creature. Thus he is very dear to crazy beings in the gross mode of ignorance, and he is their leader.
PURPORT:
Those who do not regularly bathe are supposed to be in association with ghosts and crazy creatures. Lord Śiva appeared to be like that, but his name, Śiva, is actually fitting, for he is very kind to persons who are in the darkness of the mode of ignorance, such as unclean drunkards who do not regularly bathe. Lord Śiva is so kind that he gives shelter to such creatures and gradually elevates them to spiritual consciousness. Although it is very difficult to raise such creatures to spiritual understanding, Lord Śiva takes charge of them, and therefore, as stated in the Vedas, Lord Śiva is all-auspicious. Thus by his association even such fallen souls can be elevated. Sometimes it is seen that great personalities meet with fallen souls, not for any personal interest but for the benefit of those souls. In the creation of the Lord there are different kinds of living creatures. Some of them are in the mode of goodness, some are in the mode of passion, and some are in the mode of ignorance. Lord Viṣṇu takes charge of persons who are advanced Kṛṣṇa conscious Vaiṣṇavas, and Lord Brahmā takes charge of persons who are very much attached to material activities, but Lord Śiva is so kind that he takes charge of persons who are in gross ignorance and whose behavior is lower that that of the animals. Therefore Lord Śiva is especially called auspicious.
Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.2.16
tasmā unmāda-nāthāya
naṣṭa-śaucāya durhṛde
dattā bata mayā sādhvī
codite parameṣṭhinā
SYNONYMS:
tasmai — to him; unmāda-nāthāya — to the lord of ghosts; naṣṭa-śaucāya — being devoid of all cleanliness; durhṛde — heart filled with nasty things; dattā — was given; bata — alas; mayā — by me; sādhvī — Sati; codite — being requested; parameṣṭhinā — by the supreme teacher (Brahmā).
TRANSLATION:
On the request of Lord Brahmā I handed over my chaste daughter to him, although he is devoid of all cleanliness and his heart is filled with nasty things.
PURPORT:
It is the duty of parents to hand over their daughters to suitable persons just befitting their family tradition in cleanliness, gentle behavior, wealth, social position, etc. Dakṣa was repentant that on the request of Brahmā, who was his father, he had handed over his daughter to a person who, according to his calculation, was nasty. He was so angry that he did not acknowledge that the request was from his father. Instead, he referred to Brahmā as parameṣṭhī, the supreme teacher in the universe; because of his temperament of gross anger, he was not even prepared to accept Brahmā as his father. In other words, he accused even Brahmā of being less intelligent because he had advised Dakṣa to hand over his beautiful daughter to such a nasty fellow. In anger one forgets everything, and thus Dakṣa, in anger, not only accused the great Lord Śiva, but criticized his own father, Lord Brahmā, for his not very astute advice that Dakṣa hand over his daughter to Lord Śiva.
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