Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 3 Chapter 21 Verse 14

Canto 3: The Status Quo | Chapter 21: Conversation Between Manu and Kardama

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.21.14

ye māyayā te hata-medhasas tvat-

pādāravindaḿ bhava-sindhu-potam

upāsate kāma-lavāya teṣāḿ

rāsīśa kāmān niraye 'pi ye syuḥ

SYNONYMS

ye — those persons; māyayā — by the deluding energy; te — of You; hata — has been lost; medhasaḥ — whose intelligence; tvat — Your; pāda-aravindam — lotus feet; bhava — of mundane existence; sindhu — the ocean; potam — the boat for crossing; upāsate — worship; kāma-lavāya — for obtaining trivial pleasures; teṣām — their; rāsi — You bestow; īśa — O Lord; kāmān — desires; niraye — in hell; api — even; ye — which desires; syuḥ — can be available.

TRANSLATION

Your lotus feet are the true vessel to take one across the ocean of mundane nescience. Only persons deprived of their intelligence by the spell of the deluding energy will worship those feet with a view to attain the trivial and momentary pleasures of the senses, which even persons rotting in hell can attain. However, O my Lord, You are so kind that You bestow mercy even upon them.

PURPORT

As stated in Bhagavad-gītā, Seventh Chapter, there are two kinds of devotees — those who desire material pleasures and those who desire nothing but service to the Lord. Material pleasures can be attained even by hogs and dogs, whose condition of life is hellish. The hog also eats, sleeps and enjoys sex life to the full extent, and it is also very satisfied with such hellish enjoyment of material existence. Modern yogīs advise that because one has senses, one must enjoy to the fullest extent like cats and dogs, yet one can go on and practice yoga. This is condemned here by Kardama Muni; he says that such material pleasures are available for cats and dogs in a hellish condition. The Lord is so kind that if so-called yogīs are satisfied by hellish pleasures, He can give them facilities to attain all the material pleasures they desire, but they cannot attain the perfectional stage attained by Kardama Muni.

Hellish and demoniac persons do not actually know what is the ultimate attainment in perfection, and therefore they think that sense gratification is the highest goal of life. They advise that one can satisfy the senses and at the same time, by reciting some mantra and by some practice, can cheaply aspire for perfection. Such persons are described here as hata-medhasaḥ, which means "those whose brains are spoiled." They aspire for material enjoyment by perfection of yoga or meditation. In Bhagavad-gītā it is stated by the Lord that the intelligence of those who worship the demigods has been spoiled. Similarly, here too it is stated by Kardama Muni that one who aspires after material enjoyment by practice of yoga has spoiled his brain substance and is fool number one. Actually, the intelligent practitioner of yoga should aspire for nothing else but to cross over the ocean of nescience by worshiping the Personality of Godhead and to see the lotus feet of the Lord. The Lord is so kind, however, that even today persons whose brain substance is spoiled are given the benediction to become cats, dogs or hogs and enjoy material happiness from sex life and sense gratification. The Lord confirms this benediction in Bhagavad-gītā: "Whatever a person aspires to receive from Me, I offer him as he desires."

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