Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 6 - Chapter 1 - Verse 56

Sanskrit:

त्वं तात नार्हसि च मां कृपणामनाथांत्यक्तुं विचक्ष्व पितरं तव शोकतप्तम् ।अञ्जस्तरेम भवताप्रजदुस्तरं यद्ध्वान्तं न याह्यकरुणेन यमेन दूरम् ॥ ५६ ॥

ITRANS:

tvaṁ tāta nārhasi ca māṁ kṛpaṇām anāthāṁtyaktuṁ vicakṣva pitaraṁ tava śoka-taptamañjas tarema bhavatāpraja-dustaraṁ yaddhvāntaṁ na yāhy akaruṇena yamena dūram

Translation:

My dear son, I am helpless and very much aggrieved. You should not give up my company. Just look at your lamenting father. We are helpless because without a son we shall have to suffer the distress of going to the darkest hellish regions. You are the only hope by which we can get out of these dark regions. Therefore I request you not to go any further with the merciless Yama.

Purport:

According to the Vedic injunctions, one must accept a wife just to beget a son who can deliver one from the clutches of Yamarāja. Unless one has a son to offer oblations to the pitās, or forefathers, one must suffer in Yamarāja’s kingdom. King Citraketu was very much aggrieved, thinking that because his son was going away with Yamarāja he himself would again suffer. The subtle laws exist for the karmīs; if one becomes a devotee, he has no more obligations to the laws of karma.