SB 5.13.9 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

क्‍वचिन्निगीर्णोऽजगराहिना जनो नावैति किञ्चिद्विपिनेऽपविद्ध: । दष्ट: स्म शेते क्‍व च दन्दशूकै- रन्धोऽन्धकूपे पतितस्तमिस्रे ॥ ९ ॥

Verse text

kvacin nigīrṇo ’jagarāhinā jano nāvaiti kiṣcid vipine ’paviddhaḥ daṣṭaḥ sma śete kva ca danda-śūkair andho ’ndha-kūpe patitas tamisre

Synonyms

kvacit — sometimes ; nigīrṇaḥ — being swallowed ; ajagara — ahinā — by the great snake known as the python ; janaḥ — the conditioned soul ; na — not ; avaiti — understands ; kiṣcit — anything ; vipine — in the forest ; apaviddhaḥ — pierced by arrows of suffering ; daṣṭaḥ — being bitten ; sma — indeed ; śete — lies down ; kva ca — sometimes ; danda — śūkaiḥ — by other kinds of snakes ; andhaḥ — blind ; andha — kūpe — in a blind well ; patitaḥ — fallen ; tamisre — in a hellish condition of life .

Translation

The conditioned soul in the material forest is sometimes swallowed by a python or crushed. At such a time he is left lying in the forest like a dead person, devoid of consciousness and knowledge. Sometimes other poisonous snakes bite him. Being blind to his consciousness, he falls down into a dark well of hellish life with no hope of being rescued.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Sometimes he is swallowed by a python and loses consciousness. Sometimes, not woken up by friends, he is bitten by a snake in the forest while he sleeps. Sometimes, in blindness, he falls into a dark, blind well. “Swallowed by a python” means he goes to sleep. Not woken up by friends (apaviddhaḥ) he is afflicted by evil persons like snakes. Blind, without discrimination, he falls into illusion, like a blind well, covered by darkness—filled by misery.

Purport

When one becomes unconscious due to being bitten by a snake, one cannot understand what is taking place outside the body. This unconscious condition is the condition of deep sleep. Similarly, the conditioned soul is actually sleeping on the lap of the illusory energy. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung, kota nidrā yāo māyā-piśācīra kole: “O living entity, how long will you sleep in this condition on the lap of the illusory energy?” People do not understand that they are actually sleeping in this material world, being devoid of knowledge of spiritual life. Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore says: enechi auṣadhi māyā nāśibāra lāgi’ hari-nāma-mahā-mantra lao tumi māgi’ “I have brought medicine to awaken every living being from perpetual sleep. Please receive the holy name of the Lord, the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, and awaken.” The Kaṭha Upaniṣad (1.3.14) also says, uttiṣṭha jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata: “O living entity, you are sleeping in this material world. Please get up and take advantage of your human form of life.” The sleeping condition means loss of all knowledge. In Bhagavad-gītā (2.69) it is also said, yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī: “What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled.” Even in the higher planets, everyone is under the spell of the illusory energy. No one is really interested in the real values of life. The sleeping condition, called kāla-sarpa (the time factor), keeps the conditioned soul in a state of ignorance, and therefore pure consciousness is lost. In the forest there are many blind wells, and if one falls down in one there is no chance of being rescued. In a state of sleep, one remains perpetually bitten by some animals, especially snakes.