SB 12.3.35

SB 12.3.35

Devanagari

पणयिष्यन्ति वै क्षुद्रा: किराटा: कूटकारिण: । अनापद्यपि मंस्यन्ते वार्तां साधु जुगुप्सिताम् ॥ ३५ ॥

Verse text

paṇayiṣyanti vai kṣudrāḥ kirāṭāḥ kūṭa-kāriṇaḥ anāpady api maṁsyante vārtāṁ sādhu jugupsitām

Synonyms

paṇayiṣyanti will engage in commerce ; vai indeed ; kṣudrāḥ petty ; kirāṭāḥ the merchants ; kūṭa kāriṇaḥ — indulging in cheating ; anāpadi when there is no emergency ; api even ; maṁsyante people will consider ; vārtām an occupation ; sādhu good ; jugupsitām which is actually contemptible .

Translation

Businessmen will engage in petty commerce and earn their money by cheating. Even when there is no emergency, people will consider any degraded occupation quite acceptable.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Petty merchants will earn their money by cheating. Even when there is no emergency, all varṇas will consider any degraded occupation as good. Merchants (kirāṭāḥ), after cheating by use of adharma (kūta-kāriṇaḥ), will carry out transactions. All varṇas will consider a despised occupation as good, even when there is no emergency.

Purport

Although other occupations are available, people do not hesitate to work in coal mines, slaughterhouses, steel mills, deserts, floating oil rigs, submarines and other equally abominable situations. As also mentioned here, businessmen will consider cheating and lying to be a perfectly respectable way to do business. These are all symptoms of the Age of Kali.