SB 5.13.14 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

तांस्तान् विपन्नान् स हि तत्र तत्र विहाय जातं परिगृह्य सार्थ: । आवर्ततेऽद्यापि न कश्चिदत्र वीराध्वन: पारमुपैति योगम् ॥ १४ ॥

Verse text

tāṁs tān vipannān sa hi tatra tatra vihāya jātaṁ parigṛhya sārthaḥ āvartate ’dyāpi na kaścid atra vīrādhvanaḥ pāram upaiti yogam

Synonyms

tān tān — all of them ; vipannān — embarrassed in various ways ; saḥ — the living being ; hi — certainly ; tatra tatra — here and there ; vihāya — giving up ; jātam — those who are newly born ; parigṛhya — taking ; sa — arthaḥ — the living being searching for his own interest ; āvartate — wanders in this forest ; adya api — even until now ; na — not ; kaścit — any of them ; atra — here in this forest ; vīra — O hero ; adhvanaḥ — of the path of material life ; pāram — the ultimate end ; upaiti — gets ; yogam — the process of devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead .

Translation

My dear King, on the forest path of material life, first a person is bereft of his father and mother, and after their death he becomes attached to his newly born children. In this way he wanders on the path of material progress and is eventually embarrassed. Nonetheless, no one knows how to get out of this, even up to the moment of death.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

O King! Giving up all those who have died, and accepting those who are born, he wanders about in the forest. Even then, the merchant does not take to the method of crossing material life. Giving up the dead (vipannān), he accepts those who are born. He wanders about, but until today does not go towards the Lord. No one among the merchants attains the method of crossing the forest-- bhakti or jṣāna.

Purport

In this material world, family life is an institution of sex. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukham ( Bhāg. 7.9.45 ). Through sex, the father and mother beget children, and the children get married and go down the same path of sexual life. After the death of the father and mother, the children get married and beget their own children. Thus generation after generation these things go on in the same way without anyone’s attaining liberation from the embarrassment of material life. No one accepts the spiritual processes of knowledge and renunciation, which end in bhakti-yoga. Actually human life is meant for jṣāna and vairāgya, knowledge and renunciation. Through these one can attain the platform of devotional service. Unfortunately people in this age avoid the association of liberated people ( sādhu-saṅga ) and continue in their stereotyped way of family life. Thus they are embarrassed by the exchange of money and sex.