Text 52
ekas tapasvy aham athāmbhasi matsya-saṅgāt
pañcāśad āsam uta pañca-sahasra-sargaḥ
nāntaṁ vrajāmy ubhaya-kṛtya-manorathānāṁ
māyā-guṇair hṛta-matir viṣaye ’rtha-bhāvaḥ
ekaḥ — one only; tapasvī — great sage; aham — I; atha — thus; ambhasi — in the deep water; matsya-saṅgāt — by associating with the fish; pañcāśat — fifty; āsam — got wives; uta — and what to speak of begetting one hundred sons in each of them; pañca-sahasra-sargaḥ — procreation of five thousand; na antam — no end; vrajāmi — I can find; ubhaya-kṛtya — duties of this life and the next; manorathānām — mental concoctions; māyā-guṇaiḥ — influenced by the modes of material nature; hṛta — lost; matiḥ viṣaye — great attraction for material things; artha-bhāvaḥ — matters of self-interest.
In the beginning I was alone and engaged in performing the austerities of mystic yoga, but later, because of the association of fish engaged in sex, I desired to marry. Then I became the husband of fifty wives, and in each of them I begot one hundred sons, and thus my family increased to five thousand members. By the influence of the modes of material nature, I became fallen and thought that I would be happy in material life. Thus there is no end to my material desires for enjoyment, in this life and the next.