Text 17
tac chrutvā te ’ti-santrastā
vimucya sahasodaram
sāmbasya dadṛśus tasmin
muṣalaṁ khalv ayasmayam
tat — that; śrutvā — having heard; te — they; ati-santrastāḥ — extremely afraid; vimucya — uncovering; sahasā — hastily; udaram — the belly; sāmbasya — of Sāmba; dadṛśuḥ — they saw; tasmin — within it; muṣalam — a club; khalu — indeed; ayaḥ-mayam — made of iron.
Upon hearing the curse of the sages, the terrified boys quickly uncovered the belly of Sāmba, and indeed they observed that therein was an iron club.
Upon hearing the words of the Vaiṣṇavas, headed by Nārada, the Yadu boys lifted the garment covering Sāmba’s abdomen and saw the fruit of the offense they had committed against Vaiṣṇavas by their deceit: an actual club was there to destroy their dynasty. This example shows that in a polluted society the club of duplicity can never bring the peace found in the society of devotees. Rather, such duplicity smashes all the nondevotional activities and whimsical doctrines of the pseudodevotees. The Yadu boys were wary about jeopardizing their advanced position and indeed had been thinking that as long as they kept their trickery concealed, others would never be able to detect such sophisticated cheating. Nonetheless, they were unable to protect their family from the reaction of their grievous offense against the devotees of the Lord.