The Sages Laugh at Narada's Counsel
Bala Kanda, Doha 78
Doha 78 · Movement 2 of 2
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The seven sages hear Parvati and laugh. Their laughter is the opening stroke of the test, aimed not only at her choice of husband but at the trust she has placed in her Guru.
They ask the mountain born maiden a cutting question: in whose household has Narada's advice ever found a peaceful home? The words portray the divine wanderer's guidance as a seed of trouble rather than blessing.
Parvati has endured hunger, cold, and the long stripping away of bodily strength. Now devotion meets another austerity, the ridicule of the very source whose word set her upon the path.
The forest that heard her mantra now hears seven sages laugh at her Guru.
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AI-created devotional illustration · Doha 78
Two representative sages smile and question Uma about Narada's advice; the other five sages are outside the close view.
Source reference and artistic choices
Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 96 · printed pages 94. Reader passage: bala-kanda-doha-079. Printed numbering may differ.
Source facts
- Hearing Uma's words the sages laugh, remark on her body's mountain origin and ask whose household has prospered by Narada's counsel
- The sarcastic remark is the testing sages' speech, not a narrator verdict about Narada
Artistic choices
- Close crop shows two representative speakers of seven, remaining five outside chosen view; approved imaginative Uma and sage appearances reused
- Visible amused smiles, whitebearded sage open questioning hand, Uma lowered listening gaze, darkbearded sage resting pose, fine botanical forest/stream/mountains added; no literal mountain-body transformation or collapsed household
An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.
सुनत बचन बिहसे रिषय गिरिसंभव तब देह। नारद कर उपदेसु सुनि कहहु बसेउ किसु गेह।।78।।
Hearing her words, the rishis laughed and said: "O mountain-born one, tell us: in whose household has Narada's counsel ever found a home?"