Devanagari
नानारूपात्मनो बुद्धि: स्वैरिणीव गुणान्विता ।
तन्निष्ठामगतस्येह किमसत्कर्मभिर्भवेत् ॥ १४ ॥
Verse text
nānā-rūpātmano buddhiḥ
svairiṇīva guṇānvitā
tan-niṣṭhām agatasyeha
kim asat-karmabhir bhavet
Synonyms
nānā
—
various
;
rūpā
—
who has forms or dresses
;
ātmanaḥ
—
of the living entity
;
buddhiḥ
—
the intelligence
;
svairiṇī
—
a prostitute who freely decorates herself with different types of cloths and ornaments
;
iva
—
like
;
guṇa
—
anvitā — endowed with the mode of passion, and so on
;
tat
—
niṣṭhām — the cessation of that
;
agatasya
—
of one who has not obtained
;
iha
—
in this material world
;
kim asat
—
karmabhiḥ bhavet — what is the use of performing temporary fruitive activities .
Translation
[Nārada Muni had described a woman who is a professional prostitute. The Haryaśvas understood the identity of this woman.] Mixed with the mode of passion, the unsteady intelligence of every living entity is like a prostitute who changes dresses just to attract one’s attention. If one fully engages in temporary fruitive activities, not understanding how this is taking place, what does he actually gain?
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The woman represents intelligence with many forms, absorbed in material objects and endowed with many qualities like learning. What is the use of insubstantial karmas performed by a person who does not discern the good and bad tendencies of the intelligence?
This verse explains the woman with many forms. The intelligence is absorbed in material pleasures (svairiṇī) not in Kṛṣṇa, and endowed with qualities like beauty, grace and learning. What is the use of insubstantial karmas performed by a person who does not consider or know the intelligence’s attraction for beneficial or detrimental objects? By discrimination one should place one’s intelligence in Kṛṣṇa.
Purport
A woman who has no husband declares herself independent, which means that she becomes a prostitute. A prostitute generally dresses herself in various fashions intended to attract a man’s attention to the lower part of her body. Today it has become a much advertised fashion for a woman to go almost naked, covering the lower part of her body only slightly, in order to draw the attention of a man to her private parts for sexual enjoyment. The intelligence engaged to attract a man to the lower part of the body is the intelligence of a professional prostitute. Similarly, the intelligence of a living entity who does not turn his attention toward Kṛṣṇa or the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement simply changes dresses like a prostitute. What is the benefit of such foolish intelligence? One should be intelligently conscious in such a way that he need no longer change from one body to another.
Karmīs
change their professions at any moment, but a Kṛṣṇa conscious person does not change his profession, for his only profession is to attract the attention of Kṛṣṇa by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mantra
and living a very simple life, without following daily changes of fashion. In our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, fashionable persons are taught to adopt one fashion — the dress of a Vaiṣṇava with a shaved head and
tilaka.
They are taught to be always clean in mind, dress and eating in order to be fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. What is the use of changing one’s dress, sometimes wearing long hair and a long beard and sometimes dressing otherwise? This is not good. One should not waste his time in such frivolous activities. One should always be fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and take the cure of devotional service with firm determination.