Devanagari
यथादृढै: कर्ममयै: क्रतुभिर्नामनौनिभै:
विद्यामान्वीक्षिकीं हित्वा तितीर्षन्ति भवार्णवम् ॥ ४ ॥
Verse text
yathādṛḍhaiḥ karma-mayaiḥ
kratubhir nāma-nau-nibhaiḥ
vidyām ānvīkṣikīṁ hitvā
titīrṣanti bhavārṇavam
Synonyms
yathā
—
as
;
adṛḍhaiḥ
—
which are inadequate
;
karma
—
mayaiḥ — based on fruitive activity
;
kratubhiḥ
—
by ritual sacrifices
;
nāma
—
in name only
;
nau
—
nibhaiḥ — which serve as boats
;
vidyām
—
knowledge
;
ānvīkṣikīm
—
spiritual
;
hitvā
—
abandoning
;
titīrṣanti
—
they try to cross beyond
;
bhava
—
arṇavam — the ocean of material existence .
Translation
Their taking shelter of Kṛṣṇa is just like the foolish attempt of men who abandon transcendental knowledge of the self and instead try to cross over the great ocean of material existence in the false boats of fruitive, ritual sacrifices.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Their taking shelter of Kṛṣṇa is just like the foolish attempt of men who abandon transcendental knowledge of the self and instead try to cross over the great ocean of material existence in the false boats of fruitive, ritual sacrifices.
KB 10.25.4
Indra cursed the action of the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana and said, “By defying the authority of the demigods, the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana will suffer in material existence. Having neglected the sacrifice to the demigods, they cannot cross over the impediments of the ocean of material existence.”
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
As vaisnavas desire to cross the ocean of material existence and thus take shelter of Krsna, rejecting the quest for knowledge of Brahman, these cowherd men have become absorbed in a sacrifice as a boat to cross the ocean, which cannot do so (adrdhaih). One should not attempt to cross the ocean by taking shelter of Krsna, hoping to reduce the size of the ocean to size of a calf’s hoofprint. But they desire to do so.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Just as foolish people try to cross material existence by sacrifices which give temporary results (adṛḍhaih), the cowherds took shelter of Kṛṣṇa and offended me. This example shows that they acted unsuitably because of lack of discrimination. Or, just as the foolish give up knowledge and try to cross existence by temporary sacrifices, the cowherds gave up Indra’s worship and took shelter of Kṛṣṇa and are trying to cross material existence. Because of his great anger, he does not complete the sentence. The real meaning however is this. Just as the devotees give up impersonal knowledge along with sacrifices, and desire to cross existence simply by taking shelter of Kṛṣṇa, the cowherds gave up my worship and tried to cross material existence by taking shelter of him.