Devanagari
यश्च मूढतमो लोके यश्च बुद्धे: परं गत: ।
तावुभौ सुखमेधेते क्लिश्यत्यन्तरितो जन: ॥ १७ ॥
Verse text
yaś ca mūḍhatamo loke
yaś ca buddheḥ paraṁ gataḥ
tāv ubhau sukham edhete
kliśyaty antarito janaḥ
Synonyms
yaḥ
—
one who is
;
ca
—
also
;
mūḍha
—
tamaḥ — the lowest of the fools
;
loke
—
in the world
;
yaḥ ca
—
and one who is
;
buddheḥ
—
of intelligence
;
param
—
transcendental
;
gataḥ
—
gone
;
tau
—
of them
;
ubhau
—
both
;
sukham
—
happiness
;
edhete
—
enjoy
;
kliśyati
—
suffer
;
antaritaḥ
—
situated between
;
janaḥ
—
persons .
Translation
Both the lowest of fools and he who is transcendental to all intelligence enjoy happiness, whereas persons between them suffer the material pangs.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
He who is the most foolish in this world and he who has attained the Lord beyond matter increases happiness, whereas others just suffer.
Until now I have been drowning in the sorrow of doubt because of ignorance. This is expressed in this verse. One person who is the most foolish, like an animal (mūḍatamaḥ), whose intelligence is engaged in enjoying material objects (and ignoring the suffering), and another person who has achieved the Supreme Lord who is beyond (param) matter (buddheḥ)—these two persons increase happiness by deriving bliss from either material objects or the Lord, without suffering. He who desires to reject the material world by examining the suffering cannot accomplish this without attaining bhakti. He who is between these two (antaritaḥ) suffers in the ocean of doubt by not having either type of bliss.
Purport
The lowest of fools do not understand material miseries; they pass their lives merrily and do not inquire into the miseries of life. Such persons are almost on the level of the animals, who, although in the eyes of superiors are always miserable in life, are unaware of material distresses. A hog’s life is degraded in its standard of happiness, which entails living in a filthy place, engaging in sex enjoyment at every opportune moment, and laboring hard in a struggle for existence, but this is unknown to the hog. Similarly, human beings who are unaware of the miseries of material existence and are happy in sex life and hard labor are the lowest of fools. Yet because they have no sense of miseries, they supposedly enjoy so-called happiness. The other class of men, those who are liberated and are situated in the transcendental position above intelligence, are really happy and are called
paramahaṁsas.
But persons who are neither like hogs and dogs nor on the level of the
paramahaṁsas
feel the material pangs, and for them inquiry about the Supreme Truth is necessary. The
Vedānta-sūtra
states,
athāto brahma-jijṣāsā:
“Now one should inquire about Brahman.” This inquiry is necessary for those who are between the
paramahaṁsas
and the fools who have forgotten the question of self-realization in the midst of life in sense gratification.