Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 3 Chapter 32 Verse 2

Canto 3: The Status Quo | Chapter 32: Entanglement in Fruitive Activities

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.32.2

sa cāpi bhagavad-dharmāt

kāma-mūḍhaḥ parāń-mukhaḥ

yajate kratubhir devān

pitṝḿś ca śraddhayānvitaḥ

SYNONYMS

saḥ — he; ca api — moreover; bhagavat-dharmāt — from devotional service; kāma-mūḍhaḥ — infatuated by lust; parāk-mukhaḥ — having the face turned away; yajate — worships; kratubhiḥ — with sacrificial ceremonies; devān — the demigods; pitṝn — the forefathers; ca — and; śraddhayā — with faith; anvitaḥ — endowed.

TRANSLATION

Such persons are ever bereft of devotional service due to being too attached to sense gratification, and therefore, although they perform various kinds of sacrifices and take great vows to satisfy the demigods and forefathers, they are not interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, devotional service.

PURPORT

In Bhagavad-gītā (7.20) it is said that persons who worship demigods have lost their intelligence: kāmais tais tair hṛta jñānāḥ. They are much attracted to sense gratification, and therefore they worship the demigods. It is, of course, recommended in the Vedic scriptures that if one wants money, health or education, then he should worship the various demigods. A materialistic person has manifold demands, and thus there are manifold demigods to satisfy his senses. The gṛhamedhīs, who want to continue a prosperous materialistic way of life, generally worship the demigods or the forefathers by offering piṇḍa, or respectful oblations. Such persons are bereft of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and are not interested in devotional service to the Lord. This kind of so-called pious and religious man is the result of impersonalism. The impersonalists maintain that the Supreme Absolute Truth has no form and that one can imagine any form he likes for his benefit and worship in that way. Therefore the gṛhamedhīs or materialistic men say that they can worship any form of a demigod as worship of the Supreme Lord. Especially amongst the Hindus, those who are meat-eaters prefer to worship goddess Kālī because it is prescribed that one can sacrifice a goat before that goddess. They maintain that whether one worships the goddess Kālī or the Supreme Personality of Godhead Viṣṇu or any demigod, the destination is the same. This is first-class rascaldom, and such people are misled. But they prefer this philosophy. Bhagavad-gītā does not accept such rascaldom, and it is clearly stated that such methods are meant for persons who have lost their intelligence. The same judgment is confirmed here, and the word kāma-mūḍha, meaning one who has lost his sense or is infatuated by the lust of attraction for sense gratification, is used. Kāma-mūḍhas are bereft of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and devotional service and are infatuated by a strong desire for sense gratification. The worshipers of demigods are condemned both in Bhagavad-gītā and in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness