SB 10.24.19 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

आजीव्यैकतरं भावं यस्त्वन्यमुपजीवति न तस्माद् विन्दते क्षेमं जारान् नार्यसती यथा ॥ १९ ॥

Verse text

ājīvyaikataraṁ bhāvaṁ yas tv anyam upajīvati na tasmād vindate kṣemaṁ jārān nāry asatī yathā

Synonyms

ājīvya — sustaining his life ; ekataram — one ; bhāvam — entity ; yaḥ — who ; tu — but ; anyam — another ; upajīvati — resorts to ; na — not ; tasmāt — from that one ; vindate — gains ; kṣemam — real benefit ; jārāt — from a paramour ; nārī — a woman ; asatī — who is unchaste ; yathā — as .

Translation

If one thing is actually sustaining our life but we take shelter of something else, how can we achieve any real benefit? We would be like an unfaithful woman, who can never achieve any actual benefit by consorting with her paramour.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

If one thing is actually sustaining our life but we take shelter of something else, how can we achieve any real benefit? We would be like an unfaithful woman, who can never achieve any actual benefit by consorting with her paramour. KB 10.24.19 “Actually, one cannot be happy without executing his proper prescribed duty. One who does not, therefore, properly discharge his prescribed duties is compared to an unchaste wife.

Purport

The word kṣemam means actual prosperity, not merely the accumulation of money. Here Lord Kṛṣṇa boldly argues that just as a woman can never achieve actual dignity or enlightenment from an illicit lover, the residents of Vṛndāvana will never be happy by neglecting the real source of their prosperity and worshiping Indra instead. According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, the audacity that child Kṛṣṇa displayed before His father and other elders should be understood as an exhibition of transcendental anger aroused when He saw His eternal devotees worshiping an insignificant demigod.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

In this verse he speaks of the effects of not doing as he advises.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

If we sustain our life by one means, but try to subsist by another means we gain no benefit. We are like an unchaste woman trying to derive happiness from a paramour. Instead of jārāt sometimes jāram is seen. But the meaning is the same. Speaking in this manner to his father and others is audacious, produced by anger at their inferior worship.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

If we sustain our life by one means, but try to subsist by another means for enjoyment, because of that or from that other method (tasmāt), we gain no happiness or auspiciousness. Therefore we should worship the cows because they support our lives and we should worship Govardhana because it supports the cows. Thus worshipping Indra is rejected (verse 8). After that it was said that the clouds give rain. That conclusion is also rejected since it is related to worship of Indra.