Devanagari
यस्त्वेतत् कृच्छ्रतश्चीर्णं तपो नि:श्रेयसं महत् ।
कामायाल्पीयसे युञ्ज्याद् बालिश: कोऽपरस्तत: ॥ १० ॥
Verse text
yas tv etat kṛcchrataś cīrṇaṁ
tapo niḥśreyasaṁ mahat
kāmāyālpīyase yuṣjyād
bāliśaḥ ko ’paras tataḥ
Synonyms
yaḥ
—
one who
;
tu
—
indeed
;
etat
—
this
;
kṛcchrataḥ
—
with great penance
;
cīrṇam
—
for a long time
;
tapaḥ
—
austerity
;
niḥśreyasam
—
awarding ultimate liberation
;
mahat
—
glorious
;
kāmāya
—
for sense gratification
;
alpīyase
—
insignificant
;
yuṣjyāt
—
practices
;
bāliśaḥ
—
such a fool
;
kaḥ
—
who
;
aparaḥ
—
else
;
tataḥ
—
besides him .
Translation
One who with long endeavor executes this painful but exalted penance, which awards ultimate liberation, simply to achieve insignificant sense gratification must be considered the greatest fool.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
One who with difficulty executes this painful but exalted penance for insignificant material pleasure must be considered the greatest fool.
The person who practices these austerities with material desires is criticized.
Purport
Although the process of
vānaprastha
described by Lord Kṛṣṇa is so glorious that even the consolation prize is promotion to Maharloka, one who consciously performs this process for such promotion to heaven is certainly the greatest fool. The Lord does not want this process to be abused or exploited by materialistic rascals, for the ultimate goal is love of Godhead.