Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

<< Canto 10, The Summum Bonum >>
<< 51 - The Deliverance of Mucukunda >>

<< VERSE 45 >>

śrī-mucukunda uvāca
vimohito ’yaṁ jana īśa māyayā
tvadīyayā tvāṁ na bhajaty anartha-dṛk
sukhāya duḥkha-prabhaveṣu sajjate
gṛheṣu yoṣit puruṣaś ca vañcitaḥ

WORD BY WORD



TRANSLATION

Śrī Mucukunda said: O Lord, the people of this world, both men and women, are bewildered by Your illusory energy. Unaware of their real benefit, they do not worship You but instead seek happiness by entangling themselves in family affairs, which are actually sources of misery.

PURPORT

Mucukunda immediately makes it clear that he is not going to ask the Lord for material blessings. He has advanced, spiritually, far beyond those who try to exploit religion for all kinds of material benefits. Artha means “value,” and the negation of this word, anartha, means “that which is valueless or useless.” Thus the term anartha-dṛk indicates those whose vision is focused on valueless things, who have not understood what actual artha, or value, is. All that glitters is not gold, and Mucukunda here emphatically states that we should not ruin our spiritual chances by entangling ourselves in the fool’s gold of bodily relationships. We are meant to love the Lord.

Donate to Bhaktivedanta Library