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.