The Material World as the Great Forest of Enjoyment

Verse 1 (bhagavata.5.14.1)

स होवाच स एष देहात्ममानिनां सत्त्वादिगुणविशेषविकल्पितकुशलाकुशलसमवहारविनिर्मितविविधदेहावलिभिर्वियोगसंयोगाद्यनादिसंसारानुभवस्य द्वारभूतेनषडिन्द्रियवर्गेण तस्मिन्दुर्गाध्ववदसुगमेऽध्वन्यापतित ईश्वरस्य भगवतो विष्णोर्वशवर्तिन्या मायया जीवलोकोऽयं यथा वणिक्सार्थोऽर्थपरः स्वदेहनिष्पादितकर्मानुभवः श्मशानवदशिवतमायां संसाराटव्यां गतो नाद्यापि विफलबहुप्रतियोगेहस्तत्तापोपशमनीं हरिगुरुचरणारविन्दमधुकरानुपदवीमवरुन्धे ॥ १ ॥

sa hovāca sa eṣa dehātma-mānināṁ sattvādi-guṇa-viśeṣa-vikalpita-kuśalāku-śala-samavahāra-vinirmita-vividha-dehāvalibhir viyoga-saṁyogādy-anādi-saṁsārānubhavasya dvāra-bhūtena ṣaḍ-indriya-vargeṇa tasmin durgādhvavad asugame ’dhvany āpatita īśvarasya bhagavato viṣṇor vaśa-vartinyā māyayā jīva-loko ’yaṁ yathā vaṇik-sārtho ’rtha-paraḥ sva-deha-niṣpādita-karmānubhavaḥ śmaśānavad aśivatamāyāṁ saṁsārāṭavyāṁ gato nādyāpi viphala-bahu-pratiyogehas tat-tāpopaśamanīṁ hari-guru-caraṇāravinda-madhukarānupadavīm avarundhe.

Shukadeva said: This same being — for those who identify with the body — falls, through the six senses that serve as the very gateway to the beginningless experience of birth and death, formed by the varied sequence of bodies born from the mixture of good and bad action shaped by the distinctions among the modes of nature — falls, I say, upon that path, hard to traverse as a broken road, cast there by the maya of the Supreme Controller, Bhagavan Vishnu. And so this 'world of living beings,' like the leader of a merchant caravan intent only on profit, experiencing the fruits of action produced through his own body, journeys into the forest of samsara — a forest as inauspicious as a cremation ground — and even now, his many efforts having borne no fruit, he does not attain the path of the bees at the lotus feet of Hari and the guru, which alone could put an end to that suffering.

Verse 2 (bhagavata.5.14.2)

यस्यामु ह वा एते षडिन्द्रियनामानः कर्मणा दस्यव एव ते । तद्यथा पुरुषस्य धनं यत्किञ्चिद्धर्मौपयिकं बहुकृच्छ्राधिगतं साक्षात्परमपुरुषाराधनलक्षणो योऽसौ धर्मस्तं तु साम्पराय उदाहरन्ति । तद्धर्म्यं धनं दर्शनस्पर्शनश्रवणास्वादनावघ्राणसङ्कल्पव्यवसायगृहग्राम्योपभोगेन कुनाथस्याजितात्मनो यथा सार्थस्य विलुम्पन्ति ॥ २ ॥

yasyām u ha vā ete ṣaḍ-indriya-nāmānaḥ karmaṇā dasyava eva te; tad yathā puruṣasya dhanaṁ yat kiñcid dharmaupayikaṁ bahu-kṛcchrādhigataṁ sākṣāt parama-puruṣārādhana-lakṣaṇo yo ’sau dharmas taṁ tu sāmparāya udāharanti; tad-dharmyaṁ dhanaṁ darśana-sparśana-śravaṇāsvādanāvaghrāṇa-saṅkalpa-vyavasāya-gṛha-grāmyopabhogena kunāthasyājitātmano yathā sārthasya vilum-panti.

In this forest, these six named senses are, through their very action, nothing but thieves. Consider, for instance, whatever wealth a person acquires through great hardship for the sake of dharma — that dharma which consists directly in the worship of the Supreme Person, and which is spoken of as the wealth for the world beyond. That righteously earned wealth the senses plunder — through seeing, touching, hearing, tasting, smelling, willing and resolving, and through the enjoyments of home and society — exactly as thieves plunder the caravan of a foolish, ill-guided leader whose self remains unconquered.

Verse 3 (bhagavata.5.14.3)

अथ च यत्र कौटुम्बिका दारापत्यादयो नाम्ना कर्मणा वृकसृगाला एवानिच्छतोऽपि कदर्यस्य कुटुम्बिन उरणकवत्संरक्ष्यमाणं मिषतोऽपि हरन्ति ॥ ३ ॥

atha ca yatra kauṭumbikā dārāpatyādayo nāmnā karmaṇā vṛka-sṛgālā evānicchato ’pi kadaryasya kuṭumbina uraṇakavat saṁrakṣyamāṇaṁ miṣato ’pi haranti.

Moreover, in this forest one's own family — wife, children and the rest — bearing those names, yet behaving in truth exactly like wolves and jackals, carry off his wealth even before his very eyes, though he, a reluctant and miserly householder, guards it as carefully as a shepherd guards a lamb.

Verse 4 (bhagavata.5.14.4)

यथा ह्यनुवत्सरं कृष्यमाणमप्यदग्धबीजं क्षेत्रं पुनरेवावपनकाले गुल्मतृणवीरुद्भिर्गह्वरमिव भवत्येवमेव गृहाश्रमः कर्मक्षेत्रं यस्मिन्न हि कर्माण्युत्सीदन्ति यदयं कामकरण्ड एष आवसथः ॥ ४ ॥

yathā hy anuvatsaraṁ kṛṣyamāṇam apy adagdha-bījaṁ kṣetraṁ punar evāvapana-kāle gulma-tṛṇa-vīrudbhir gahvaram iva bhavaty evam eva gṛhāśramaḥ karma-kṣetraṁ yasmin na hi karmāṇy utsīdanti yad ayaṁ kāma-karaṇḍa eṣa āvasathaḥ.

Just as a field ploughed year after year, if its seeds are not fully scorched, grows thick again with weeds and creepers at each new sowing, so too is household life a field of fruitive action in which deeds never cease — for this household is nothing but a basket of desire, a mere dwelling place for it.

Verse 5 (bhagavata.5.14.5)

तत्रगतो दंशमशकसमापसदैर्मनुजैः शलभशकुन्ततस्करमूषकादिभिरुपरुध्यमानबहिःप्राणः क्वचित् परिवर्तमानोऽस्मिन्नध्वन्यविद्याकामकर्मभिरुपरक्तमनसानुपपन्नार्थं नरलोकं गन्धर्वनगरमु पपन्नमिति मिथ्यादृष्टिरनुपश्यति ॥ ५ ॥

tatra gato daṁśa-maśaka-samāpasadair manujaiḥ śalabha-śakunta-taskara-mūṣakādibhir uparudhyamāna-bahiḥ-prāṇaḥ kvacit parivartamāno ’sminn adhvany avidyā-kāma-karmabhir uparakta-manasānupapannārthaṁ nara-lokaṁ gandharva-nagaram upapannam iti mithyā-dṛṣṭir anupaśyati.

Having entered there, his outward-turned senses harassed by lowly men who behave like gadflies and mosquitoes, and by locusts, birds of prey, thieves and rats, wandering along this path, his mind stained by ignorance, desire and action, he, his vision utterly false, perceives this human world — whose true purpose can never be attained — as though it were some lasting city of the Gandharvas.

Verse 6 (bhagavata.5.14.6)

तत्र च क्वचिदातपोदकनिभान् विषयानुपधावति पानभोजनव्यवायादिव्यसनलोलुपः ॥ ६ ॥

tatra ca kvacid ātapodaka-nibhān viṣayān upadhāvati pāna-bhojana-vyavāyādi-vyasana-lolupaḥ.

There too, sometimes, greedy for the vices of drink, food and sexual union, he chases after sense objects that are no more real than a mirage of heat and water.

Verse 7 (bhagavata.5.14.7)

क्वचिच्चाशेषदोषनिषदनं पुरीषविशेषं तद्वर्णगुणनिर्मितमतिः सुवर्णमुपादित्सत्यग्निकामकातर इवोल्मुकपिशाचम् ॥ ७ ॥

kvacic cāśeṣa-doṣa-niṣadanaṁ purīṣa-viśeṣaṁ tad-varṇa-guṇa-nirmita-matiḥ suvarṇam upāditsaty agni-kāma-kātara ivolmuka-piśācam.

And sometimes there, his mind shaped by the very color and quality of that yellow excrement which is the seat of every fault, he longs to seize gold — just as one shivering with cold and craving fire runs after a phantom will-o'-the-wisp, mistaking it for flame.

Verse 8 (bhagavata.5.14.8)

अथ कदाचिन्निवासपानीयद्रविणाद्यनेकात्मोपजीवनाभिनिवेश एतस्यां संसाराटव्यामितस्ततः परिधावति ॥ ८ ॥

atha kadācin nivāsa-pānīya-draviṇādy-anekātmopajīvanābhiniveśa etasyāṁ saṁsārāṭavyām itas tataḥ paridhāvati.

Then sometimes, his mind fixed on securing a dwelling, water, wealth and the many other means of maintaining himself, he runs about here and there through this forest of worldly existence.

Verse 9 (bhagavata.5.14.9)

क्वचिच्च वात्यौपम्यया प्रमदयाऽऽरोहमारोपितस्तत्कालरजसा रजनीभूत इवासाधुमर्यादो रजस्वलाक्षोऽपि दिग्देवता अतिरजस्वलमतिर्न विजानाति ॥ ९ ॥

kvacic ca vātyaupamyayā pramadayāroham āropitas tat-kāla-rajasā rajanī-bhūta ivāsādhu-maryādo rajas-valākṣo ’pi dig-devatā atirajas-vala-matir na vijānāti.

And sometimes, drawn up as if by a whirlwind into the lap of a woman, made as if blind by that momentary passion, all sense of propriety lost, his eyes reddened with desire, his mind utterly inflamed, he fails to notice that the very deities of the directions bear witness to it all.

Verse 10 (bhagavata.5.14.10)

क्वचित्सकृदवगतविषयवैतथ्यः स्वयं पराभिध्यानेन विभ्रंशितस्मृतिस्तयैव मरीचितोयप्रायांस्तानेवाभिधावति ॥ १० ॥

kvacit sakṛd avagata-viṣaya-vaitathyaḥ svayaṁ parābhidhyānena vibhraṁśita-smṛtis tayaiva marīci-toya-prāyāṁs tān evābhidhāvati.

Sometimes, having once truly recognized the emptiness of sense objects, he yet lets his own memory of that recognition slip away, distracted by longing for something else — and by that very distraction he again runs after those same objects, which are no more real than the water of a mirage.

Verse 11 (bhagavata.5.14.11)

क्वचिदुलूकझिल्लीस्वनवदतिपरुषरभसाटोपं प्रत्यक्षं परोक्षं वा रिपुराजकुलनिर्भर्त्सितेनातिव्यथितकर्णमूलहृदयः ॥ ११ ॥

kvacid ulūka-jhillī-svanavad ati-paruṣa-rabhasāṭopaṁ pratyakṣaṁ parokṣaṁ vā ripu-rāja-kula-nirbhartsitenāti-vyathita-karṇa-mūla-hṛdayaḥ.

Sometimes his very ears and heart are pierced with pain by words as harsh and violent as the shrieking of owls and crickets — words of rebuke hurled at him, directly or indirectly, by rival powers and royal factions.

Verse 12 (bhagavata.5.14.12)

स यदा दुग्धपूर्वसुकृतस्तदा कारस्करकाकतुण्डाद्यपुण्यद्रुमलताविषोदपानवदुभयार्थशून्यद्रविणान्जीवन्मृतान् स्वयं जीवन्म्रियमाण उपधावति ॥ १२ ॥

sa yadā dugdha-pūrva-sukṛtas tadā kāraskara-kākatuṇḍādy-apuṇya-druma-latā-viṣoda-pānavad ubhayārtha-śūnya-draviṇān jīvan-mṛtān svayaṁ jīvan-mriyamāṇa upadhāvati.

When his previously accumulated merit has been fully spent, then, like a man approaching wells of poison disguised as unholy trees and creepers, he — himself living yet dying — turns for help to those who, though outwardly alive, are in truth already dead, and whose wealth is of no real use to him in this world or the next.

Verse 13 (bhagavata.5.14.13)

एकदासत्प्रसङ्गान्निकृतमतिर्व्युदकस्रोतःस्खलनवद् उभयतोऽपि दुःखदं पाखण्डमभियाति ॥ १३ ॥

ekadāsat-prasaṅgān nikṛta-matir vyudaka-srotaḥ-skhalanavad ubhayato ’pi duḥkhadaṁ pākhaṇḍam abhiyāti.

Sometimes, his mind corrupted by keeping company with the wicked, like a man stumbling into a shallow stream, he takes to some false, heretical teaching that only brings him pain both ways — helping him neither here nor hereafter.

Verse 14 (bhagavata.5.14.14)

यदा तु परबाधयान्ध आत्मने नोपनमति तदा हि पितृपुत्रबर्हिष्मतः पितृपुत्रान् वा स खलु भक्षयति ॥ १४ ॥

yadā tu para-bādhayāndha ātmane nopanamati tadā hi pitṛ-putra-barhiṣmataḥ pitṛ-putrān vā sa khalu bhakṣayati.

And when, blinded by desire, he still cannot secure his own upkeep even after exploiting others, he then turns to devour even his own father or son, however little — even a mere blade of grass — they may possess.

Verse 15 (bhagavata.5.14.15)

क्वचिदासाद्य गृहं दाववत्प्रियार्थविधुरमसुखोदर्कं शोकाग्निना दह्यमानो भृशं निर्वेदमुपगच्छति ॥ १५ ॥

kvacid āsādya gṛhaṁ dāvavat priyārtha-vidhuram asukhodarkaṁ śokāgninā dahyamāno bhṛśaṁ nirvedam upagacchati.

Sometimes, finding in his very home a thing as fierce as a forest fire — devoid of any true good and promising only future unhappiness — and burned through by the fire of grief, he sinks into utter, defeated despair.

Verse 16 (bhagavata.5.14.16)

क्वचित्कालविषमितराजकुलरक्षसापहृतप्रियतमधनासुः प्रमृतक इव विगतजीवलक्षण आस्ते ॥ १६ ॥

kvacit kāla-viṣa-mita-rāja-kula-rakṣasāpahṛta-priyatama-dhanāsuḥ pramṛtaka iva vigata-jīva-lakṣaṇa āste.

Sometimes, his dearest wealth — and with it, it seems, his very life-breath — stolen away by some demonic royal power turned hostile by the cruel turn of time, he remains as though a corpse, showing no sign of life at all.

Verse 17 (bhagavata.5.14.17)

कदाचिन्मनोरथोपगतपितृपितामहाद्यसत्सदिति स्वप्ननिर्वृतिलक्षणमनुभवति ॥ १७ ॥

kadācin manorathopagata-pitṛ-pitāmahādy asat sad iti svapna-nirvṛti-lakṣaṇam anubhavati.

Sometimes, through nothing but the wishful working of his own mind, he experiences a fleeting, dream-like contentment — imagining that his deceased father or grandfather has, though unreal, somehow returned to him as if real.

Verse 18 (bhagavata.5.14.18)

क्वचिद् गृहाश्रमकर्मचोदनातिभरगिरिमारुरुक्षमाणो लोकव्यसनकर्षितमनाः कण्टकशर्कराक्षेत्रं प्रविशन्निव सीदति ॥ १८ ॥

kvacid gṛhāśrama-karma-codanāti-bhara-girim ārurukṣamāṇo loka-vyasana-karṣita-manāḥ kaṇṭaka-śarkarā-kṣetraṁ praviśann iva sīdati.

Sometimes, attempting to climb the mountain-like excess of duties that household life demands, his mind worn thin by worldly troubles, he sinks down helplessly, as though he had wandered into a field strewn with thorns and sharp gravel.

Verse 19 (bhagavata.5.14.19)

क्वचिच्च दुःसहेन कायाभ्यन्तरवह्निना गृहीतसारः स्वकुटुम्बाय क्रुध्यति ॥ १९ ॥

kvacic ca duḥsahena kāyābhyantara-vahninā gṛhīta-sāraḥ sva-kuṭumbāya krudhyati.

And sometimes, his very vitality gripped by an unbearable fire within, he grows angry at his own family.

Verse 20 (bhagavata.5.14.20)

स एव पुनर्निद्राजगरगृहीतोऽन्धे तमसि मग्नः शून्यारण्य इव शेते नान्यत्किञ्चन वेद शव इवापविद्धः ॥ २० ॥

sa eva punar nidrājagara-gṛhīto ’ndhe tamasi magnaḥ śūnyāraṇya iva śete nānyat-kiñcana veda śava ivāpaviddhaḥ.

That same being, seized once more by the python of sleep, sunk in blind darkness, lies as though in an empty forest, aware of nothing at all — like a corpse simply cast aside.

Verse 21 (bhagavata.5.14.21)

कदाचिद्भग्नमानदंष्ट्रो दुर्जनदन्दशूकैरलब्धनिद्राक्षणो व्यथितहृदयेनानुक्षीयमाणविज्ञानोऽन्धकूपेऽन्धवत्पतति ॥ २१ ॥

kadācid bhagna-māna-daṁṣṭro durjana-danda-śūkair alabdha-nidrā-kṣaṇo vyathita-hṛdayenānukṣīyamāṇa-vijñāno ’ndha-kūpe ’ndhavat patati.

Sometimes, his pride shattered like a broken tusk, allowed not a moment's sleep by wicked, snake-like enemies, his heart tormented and his understanding steadily failing him, he falls, blind, into a blind man's well.

Verse 22 (bhagavata.5.14.22)

कर्हि स्म चित्काममधुलवान् विचिन्वन् यदा परदारपरद्रव्याण्यवरुन्धानो राज्ञा स्वामिभिर्वा निहतः पतत्यपारे निरये ॥ २२ ॥

karhi sma cit kāma-madhu-lavān vicinvan yadā para-dāra-para-drav-yāṇy avarundhāno rājñā svāmibhir vā nihataḥ pataty apāre niraye.

At times, seeking only a small drop of desired honey, he lays hold of another man's wife or another man's wealth; and struck down for it by the king or by the rightful owners, he falls into a boundless hell.

Verse 23 (bhagavata.5.14.23)

अथ च तस्मादुभयथापि हि कर्मास्मिन्नात्मनः संसारावपनमुदाहरन्ति ॥ २३ ॥

atha ca tasmād ubhayathāpi hi karmāsminn ātmanaḥ saṁsārāvapanam udāharanti.

And for this very reason, the wise declare that action performed in either of these two ways — whether pious or impious — becomes, for the self, nothing more than a further sowing-ground for samsara.

Verse 24 (bhagavata.5.14.24)

मुक्तस्ततो यदि बन्धाद्देवदत्त उपाच्छिनत्ति तस्मादपि विष्णुमित्र इत्यनवस्थितिः ॥ २४ ॥

muktas tato yadi bandhād devadatta upācchinatti tasmād api viṣṇumitra ity anavasthitiḥ.

Even should he win free of that particular bondage, what he holds is soon seized by another, called Devadatta, and from him in turn by yet another, called Vishnumitra — so nothing ever comes to rest in anyone's hands for long.

Verse 25 (bhagavata.5.14.25)

क्वचिच्च शीतवाताद्यनेकाधिदैविकभौतिकात्मीयानां दशानां प्रतिनिवारणेऽकल्पो दुरन्तचिन्तया विषण्ण आस्ते ॥ २५ ॥

kvacic ca śīta-vātādy-anekādhidaivika-bhautikātmīyānāṁ daśānāṁ pratinivāraṇe ’kalpo duranta-cintayā viṣaṇṇa āste.

Sometimes, unable to ward off the many miseries — divine, natural and personal, such as bitter cold and wind — he remains sunk in endless, despondent worry.

Verse 26 (bhagavata.5.14.26)

क्वचिन्मिथो व्यवहरन् यत्किञ्चिद्धनमन्येभ्यो वा काकिणिकामात्रमप्यपहरन् यत्किञ्चिद्वा विद्वेषमेति वित्तशाठ्यात् ॥ २६ ॥

kvacin mitho vyavaharan yat kiñcid dhanam anyebhyo vā kākiṇikā-mātram apy apaharan yat kiñcid vā vidveṣam eti vitta-śāṭhyāt.

Sometimes, in his dealings with others, over nothing more than a farthing's worth of wealth taken from someone else, he draws upon himself the hostility that always attends deceit over money.

Verse 27 (bhagavata.5.14.27)

अध्वन्यमुष्मिन्निम उपसर्गास्तथा सुखदुःखरागद्वेषभयाभिमानप्रमादोन्मादशोकमोहलोभमात्सर्येर्ष्यावमानक्षुत्पिपासाधिव्याधिजन्मजरामरणादयः ॥ २७ ॥

adhvany amuṣminn ima upasargās tathā sukha-duḥkha-rāga-dveṣa-bhayābhimāna-pramādonmāda-śoka-moha-lobha-mātsaryerṣyāva-māna-kṣut-pipāsādhi-vyādhi-janma-jarā-maraṇādayaḥ.

On this path there are, besides, these further afflictions: pleasure and pain, attachment and hatred, fear, false pride, carelessness, madness, grief, delusion, greed, envy, jealousy, insult, hunger, thirst, mental and bodily disease, birth, old age, death, and all the rest.

Verse 28 (bhagavata.5.14.28)

क्वापि देवमायया स्त्रिया भुजलतोपगूढः प्रस्कन्नविवेकविज्ञानो यद्विहारगृहारम्भाकुलहृदयस्तदाश्रयावसक्तसुतदुहितृकलत्रभाषितावलोकविचेष्टितापहृतहृदय आत्मानमजितात्मापारेऽन्धे तमसि प्रहिणोति ॥ २८ ॥

kvāpi deva-māyayā striyā bhuja-latopagūḍhaḥ praskanna-viveka-vijñāno yad-vihāra-gṛhārambhākula-hṛdayas tad-āśrayāvasakta-suta-duhitṛ-kalatra-bhāṣitāvaloka-viceṣṭitāpahṛta-hṛdaya ātmānam ajitātmāpāre ’ndhe tamasi prahiṇoti.

Sometimes, embraced by the vine-like arms of a woman — the very illusion of the gods in bodily form — his discernment and understanding swept clean away, his heart consumed with providing her a home and its pleasures, his very heart stolen by the words, glances and gestures of the wife and children who depend on that shelter, he, his self still unconquered, casts himself into a boundless, blind darkness.

Verse 29 (bhagavata.5.14.29)

कदाचिदीश्वरस्य भगवतो विष्णोश्चक्रात्परमाण्वादिद्विपरार्धापवर्गकालोपलक्षणात्परिवर्तितेन वयसा रंहसा हरत आब्रह्मतृणस्तम्बादीनां भूतानामनिमिषतो मिषतां वित्रस्तहृदयस्तमेवेश्वरं कालचक्रनिजायुधं साक्षाद्भगवन्तं यज्ञपुरुषमनादृत्य पाखण्डदेवताः कङ्कगृध्रबकवटप्राया आर्यसमयपरिहृताः साङ्केत्येनाभिधत्ते ॥ २९ ॥

kadācid īśvarasya bhagavato viṣṇoś cakrāt paramāṇv-ādi-dvi-parārdhāpavarga-kālopalakṣaṇāt parivartitena vayasā raṁhasā harata ābrahma-tṛṇa-stambādīnāṁ bhūtānām animiṣato miṣatāṁ vitrasta-hṛdayas tam eveśvaraṁ kāla-cakra-nijāyudhaṁ sākṣād bhagavantaṁ yajña-puruṣam anādṛtya pākhaṇḍa-devatāḥ kaṅka-gṛdhra-baka-vaṭa-prāyā ārya-samaya-parihṛtāḥ sāṅketyenābhidhatte.

Sometimes, seeing all beings — from Brahma himself down to a mere blade of grass — swept swiftly away by that ever-turning span of life marked out by the disc of the Supreme Lord Bhagavan Vishnu, which measures all time from the single atom to the vast lifespan of Brahma, their hearts terrified at this — such a person, disregarding that very Lord, whose own weapon is the wheel of time, the Person of Sacrifice Himself, turns instead, in mere empty name, to heretical deities comparable to hawks, vultures, herons and crows — deities rejected by the tradition of the noble.

Verse 30 (bhagavata.5.14.30)

यदा पाखण्डिभिरात्मवञ्चितैस्तैरुरु वञ्चितो ब्रह्मकुलं समावसंस्तेषां शीलमुपनयनादिश्रौतस्मार्तकर्मानुष्ठानेन भगवतो यज्ञपुरुषस्याराधनमेव तदरोचयन् शूद्रकुलं भजते निगमाचारेऽशुद्धितो यस्य मिथुनीभावः कुटुम्बभरणं यथा वानरजातेः ॥ ३० ॥

yadā pākhaṇḍibhir ātma-vañcitais tair uru vañcito brahma-kulaṁ samāvasaṁs teṣāṁ śīlam upanayanādi-śrauta-smārta-karmānuṣṭhā-nena bhagavato yajña-puruṣasyārādhanam eva tad arocayan śūdra-kulaṁ bhajate nigamācāre ’śuddhito yasya mithunī-bhāvaḥ kuṭumba-bharaṇaṁ yathā vānara-jāteḥ.

When, having been thoroughly deceived by these self-deceived heretics, he yet dwells among the community of brahmanas and outwardly follows their conduct through the sacred-thread ceremony and other Vedic and traditional rites, but finds no true satisfaction in the worship of the Lord, the Person of Sacrifice, which alone those rites exist for — he turns instead to the company of shudras, where, free of Vedic restraint, pairing off happens as freely as it does among the monkey race maintaining its young.

Verse 31 (bhagavata.5.14.31)

तत्रापि निरवरोधः स्वैरेण विहरन्नतिकृपणबुद्धिरन्योन्यमुखनिरीक्षणादिना ग्राम्यकर्मणैव विस्मृतकालावधिः ॥ ३१ ॥

tatrāpi niravarodhaḥ svaireṇa viharann ati-kṛpaṇa-buddhir anyonya-mukha-nirīkṣaṇādinā grāmya-karmaṇaiva vismṛta-kālāvadhiḥ.

There too, wholly unrestrained, wandering about however he pleases, his understanding utterly wretched, he loses all sense of time's passing, absorbed in nothing more than gazing at one another's faces and other such coarse, common activity.

Verse 32 (bhagavata.5.14.32)

क्वचिद् द्रुमवदैहिकार्थेषु गृहेषु रंस्यन् यथा वानरः सुतदारवत्सलो व्यवायक्षणः ॥ ३२ ॥

kvacid drumavad aihikārtheṣu gṛheṣu raṁsyan yathā vānaraḥ suta-dāra-vatsalo vyavāya-kṣaṇaḥ.

Sometimes he sports in houses built for worldly gain, just as a monkey sports among the trees, doting on children and wife, absorbed only in the moment of sexual union.

Verse 33 (bhagavata.5.14.33)

एवमध्वन्यवरुन्धानो मृत्युगजभयात्तमसि गिरिकन्दरप्राये ॥ ३३ ॥

evam adhvany avarundhāno mṛtyu-gaja-bhayāt tamasi giri-kandara-prāye.

Thus, blocked at every turn upon this path, out of fear of the elephant that is death, he falls into a darkness resembling a mountain cave.

Verse 34 (bhagavata.5.14.34)

क्वचिच्छीतवाताद्यनेकदैविकभौतिकात्मीयानां दुःखानां प्रतिनिवारणेऽकल्पो दुरन्तविषयविषण्ण आस्ते ॥ ३४ ॥

kvacic chīta-vātādy-aneka-daivika-bhautikātmīyānāṁ duḥkhānāṁ pratinivāraṇe ’kalpo duranta-viṣaya-viṣaṇṇa āste.

Sometimes, unable to counter the many miseries — divine, material and personal — such as cold and wind, he remains sunk in endless, hopeless despondency over such objects.

Verse 35 (bhagavata.5.14.35)

क्वचिन्मिथो व्यवहरन् यत्किञ्चिद्धनमुपयाति वित्तशाठ्येन ॥ ३५ ॥

kvacin mitho vyavaharan yat kiñcid dhanam upayāti vitta-śāṭhyena.

Sometimes, dealing with others, he comes by some wealth or other through nothing but deceit over money.

Verse 36 (bhagavata.5.14.36)

क्वचित्क्षीणधनः शय्यासनाशनाद्युपभोगविहीनो यावदप्रतिलब्धमनोरथोपगतादानेऽवसितमतिस्ततस्ततोऽवमानादीनि जनादभिलभते ॥ ३६ ॥

kvacit kṣīṇa-dhanaḥ śayyāsanāśanādy-upabhoga-vihīno yāvad apratilabdha-manorathopagatādāne ’vasita-matis tatas tato ’vamānādīni janād abhilabhate.

Sometimes, his wealth exhausted, bereft of the comforts of bed, seat, food and the rest, his mind still bent on acquiring these though his desires remain unfulfilled, he ends up receiving, from one quarter or another, nothing but insult and contempt from others.

Verse 37 (bhagavata.5.14.37)

एवं वित्तव्यतिषङ्गविवृद्धवैरानुबन्धोऽपि पूर्ववासनया मिथ उद्वहत्यथापवहति ॥ ३७ ॥

evaṁ vitta-vyatiṣaṅga-vivṛddha-vairānubandho ’pi pūrva-vāsanayā mitha udvahaty athāpavahati.

Thus, though bitter enmity has grown up between them through their entanglement over wealth, they nonetheless, driven by old habitual longing, marry one another all the same — or else, just as readily, part ways again.

Verse 38 (bhagavata.5.14.38)

एतस्मिन् संसाराध्वनि नानाक्लेशोपसर्गबाधित आपन्नविपन्नो यत्र यस्तमु ह वावेतरस्तत्र विसृज्य जातं जातमुपादाय शोचन्मुह्यन् बिभ्यद्विवदन् क्रन्दन् संहृष्यन्गायन्नह्यमानः साधुवर्जितो नैवावर्ततेऽद्यापि यत आरब्ध एष नरलोकसार्थो यमध्वनः पारमुपदिशन्ति ॥ ३८ ॥

etasmin saṁsārādhvani nānā-kleśopasarga-bādhita āpanna-vipanno yatra yas tam u ha vāvetaras tatra visṛjya jātaṁ jātam upādāya śocan muhyan bibhyad-vivadan krandan saṁhṛṣyan gāyan nahyamānaḥ sādhu-varjito naivāvartate ’dyāpi yata ārabdha eṣa nara-loka-sārtho yam adhvanaḥ pāram upadiśanti.

Upon this path of samsara, afflicted by countless troubles and obstacles, meeting now gain, now loss, a man leaves one relation behind in one place after another and takes up another newly born in his place; grieving, deluding himself, fearing, quarreling, wailing, then rejoicing and singing, ever bound up in all this, shunning the company of the good, he still does not turn back from it even now — from this very path on which the caravan of human beings first set out, a path whose far shore the wise can only point toward, without themselves being carried there by his wandering.

Verse 39 (bhagavata.5.14.39)

यदिदं योगानुशासनं न वा एतदवरुन्धते यन्न्यस्तदण्डा मुनय उपशमशीला उपरतात्मानः समवगच्छन्ति ॥ ३९ ॥

yad idaṁ yogānuśāsanaṁ na vā etad avarundhate yan nyasta-daṇḍā munaya upaśama-śīlā uparatātmānaḥ samavagacchanti.

This very teaching on yoga, then, is what those sages attain who have laid down every rod of violence, whose nature is wholly tranquil, and whose very selves have come to rest.

Verse 40 (bhagavata.5.14.40)

यदपि दिगिभजयिनो यज्विनो ये वै राजर्षयः किं तु परं मृधे शयीरन्नस्यामेव ममेयमिति कृतवैरानुबन्धायां विसृज्य स्वयमुपसंहृताः ॥ ४० ॥

yad api dig-ibha-jayino yajvino ye vai rājarṣayaḥ kiṁ tu paraṁ mṛdhe śayīrann asyām eva mameyam iti kṛta-vairānubandhāyāṁ visṛjya svayam upasaṁhṛtāḥ.

Even those royal sages who conquered the elephant-guardians of every direction, who performed great sacrifices — what more is there to say? — chose rather to lie down in battle over this very earth, bound to one another in enmity through the thought 'this is mine'; and abandoning all, they themselves were, in the end, simply carried off by death.

Verse 41 (bhagavata.5.14.41)

कर्मवल्लीमवलम्ब्य तत आपदः कथञ्चिन्नरकाद्विमुक्तः पुनरप्येवं संसाराध्वनि वर्तमानो नरलोकसार्थमुपयाति एवमुपरि गतोऽपि ॥ ४१ ॥

karma-vallīm avalambya tata āpadaḥ kathañcin narakād vimuktaḥ punar apy evaṁ saṁsārādhvani vartamāno nara-loka-sārtham upayāti evam upari gato ’pi.

Clinging to the creeper of pious action, he may thus somehow win free of calamity, free even of hell — yet, remaining still upon this very path of samsara, he returns once more to the caravan of the human world; and so it goes even for one who has, for a time, risen to the higher worlds.

Verse 42 (bhagavata.5.14.42)

तस्येदमुपगायन्ति— आर्षभस्येह राजर्षेर्मनसापि महात्मनः । नानुवर्त्मार्हति नृपो मक्षिकेव गरुत्मतः ॥ ४२ ॥

tasyedam upagāyanti — ārṣabhasyeha rājarṣer manasāpi mahātmanaḥ nānuvartmārhati nṛpo makṣikeva garutmataḥ

Of him they sing this verse: 'Not even in his mind can any king follow the path of that great-souled royal sage, the son of Rishabha — just as a fly cannot follow the flight of Garuda.'

Verse 43 (bhagavata.5.14.43)

यो दुस्त्यजान्दारसुतान् सुहृद्राज्यं हृदिस्पृशः । जहौ युवैव मलवदुत्तमश्लोकलालसः ॥ ४३ ॥

yo dustyajān dāra-sutān suhṛd rājyaṁ hṛdi-spṛśaḥ jahau yuvaiva malavad uttamaśloka-lālasaḥ

He who gave up, though these were hard to renounce — his wife, his sons, his friends, and a kingdom dear to his very heart — and did so while yet in his youth, casting them aside as one casts away refuse, longing for nothing but the Supremely Praised Lord.

Verse 44 (bhagavata.5.14.44)

यो दुस्त्यजान् क्षितिसुतस्वजनार्थदारान्प्रार्थ्यां श्रियं सुरवरैः सदयावलोकाम् । नैच्छन्नृपस्तदुचितं महतां मधुद्विट-सेवानुरक्तमनसामभवोऽपि फल्गुः ॥ ४४ ॥

yo dustyajān kṣiti-suta-svajanārtha-dārān prārthyāṁ śriyaṁ sura-varaiḥ sadayāvalokām naicchan nṛpas tad-ucitaṁ mahatāṁ madhudviṭ- sevānurakta-manasām abhavo ’pi phalguḥ

He who did not even desire that royal fortune — land, children, kinsmen, wealth and wife, so hard for others to give up, a fortune longed for even by the greatest of gods, one that looks with favor on its possessor — counting it as nothing, his mind devoted only to the service of the Enemy of Madhu, though he himself was of unimpeachable, almost unborn stature.

Verse 45 (bhagavata.5.14.45)

यज्ञाय धर्मपतये विधिनैपुणाययोगाय साङ्ख्यशिरसे प्रकृतीश्वराय । नारायणाय हरये नम इत्युदारंहास्यन्मृगत्वमपि यः समुदाजहार ॥ ४५ ॥

yajñāya dharma-pataye vidhi-naipuṇāya yogāya sāṅkhya-śirase prakṛtīśvarāya nārāyaṇāya haraye nama ity udāraṁ hāsyan mṛgatvam api yaḥ samudājahāra

'Obeisance to Him who is sacrifice itself, to the Lord of dharma, to Him supremely skilled in ritual method, to the master of yoga, to the very crown of Sankhya philosophy, to the ruler of material nature, to Narayana, to Hari' — uttering this exalted hymn, he who now gave up even the body of a deer, spoke thus.

Verse 46 (bhagavata.5.14.46)

य इदं भागवतसभाजितावदातगुणकर्मणो राजर्षेर्भरतस्यानुचरितं स्वस्त्ययनमायुष्यं धन्यं यशस्यं स्वर्ग्यापवर्ग्यं वानुशृणोत्याख्यास्यत्यभिनन्दति च सर्वा एवाशिष आत्मन आशास्ते न काञ्चन परत इति ॥ ४६ ॥

ya idaṁ bhāgavata-sabhājitāvadāta-guṇa-karmaṇo rājarṣer bharatasyānucaritaṁ svasty-ayanam āyuṣyaṁ dhanyaṁ yaśasyaṁ svargyāpavargyaṁ vānuśṛṇoty ākhyāsyaty abhinandati ca sarvā evāśiṣa ātmana āśāste na kāñcana parata iti.

Whoever, in this way, hears, narrates or takes delight in this account of King Bharata — that royal sage whose pure, unblemished qualities and deeds have been honored in the very assembly of devotees, an account that is auspicious, life-giving, glorious, fame-bestowing, and leads to heaven or to liberation itself — such a person has no need to ask any blessing at all from anyone else.