Chitraketu’s story is also told in the Bhagwatam. He was a king who had ten million queens, yet not a single child. So he was miserable. Narad Ji and some other rishis (sages) came to him, and he begged them,
“Please, please, you have to do something to give me a child!”
And they said,
“No, no, no! You can’t mess with destiny. You’re not destined to have it. Even if we have the power to give you that, it may make your situation even worse. It’s better that you’re content with what you have.”
But he insisted. So, using their power, they gave him a blessing of a son through his eldest queen. But not long after that son was born, all of the other queens became so jealous because now that queen was getting all the attention. She was the one who had the son born to her. All of the other queens became so jealous that they conspired together and poisoned the king’s son. And he died. Now the king was far more miserable than he was before he had the son born to him.
Narad Ji came back and said,
“I told you! Sometimes you don’t like your situation, but it’s better than what you have now, isn’t it?”
