Text 5
tān babhāṣe svabhūḥ putrān
prajāḥ sṛjata putrakāḥ
tan naicchan mokṣa-dharmāṇo
vāsudeva-parāyaṇāḥ
tān — unto the Kumāras, as above mentioned; babhāṣe — addressed; svabhūḥ — Brahmā; putrān — unto the sons; prajāḥ — generations; sṛjata — to create; putrakāḥ — O my sons; tat — that; na — not; aicchan — desired; mokṣa-dharmāṇaḥ — pledged to the principles of liberation; vāsudeva — the Personality of Godhead; parāyaṇāḥ — who are so devoted.
Brahmā spoke to his sons after generating them. “My dear sons,” he said, “now generate progeny.” But due to their being attached to Vāsudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they aimed at liberation, and therefore they expressed their unwillingness.
The four sons of Brahmā, the Kumāras, declined to become family men even on the request of their great father, Brahmā. Those who are serious about gaining release from material bondage should not be entangled in the false relationship of family bondage. People may ask how the Kumāras could refuse the orders of Brahmā, who was their father and, above all, the creator of the universe. The reply is that one who is vāsudeva-parāyaṇa, or seriously engaged in the devotional service of the Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva, need not care for any other obligation. It is enjoined in the Bhāgavatam (11.5.41):
devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛṇāṁ pitṝṇāṁ
na kiṅkaro nāyam ṛṇī ca rājan
sarvātmanā yaḥ śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyaṁ
gato mukundaṁ parihṛtya kartam
“Anyone who has completely given up all worldly relationships and has taken absolute shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord, who gives us salvation and who alone is fit to be taken shelter of, is no longer a debtor or servant of anyone, including the demigods, forefathers, sages, other living entities, relatives, and members of human society.” Thus there was nothing wrong in the acts of the Kumāras when they refused their great father’s request that they become family men.