SB 7.13.16 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

बिभर्षि कायं पीवानं सोद्यमो भोगवान्यथा ॥ १६ ॥ वित्तं चैवोद्यमवतां भोगो वित्तवतामिह । भोगिनां खलु देहोऽयं पीवा भवति नान्यथा ॥ १७ ॥

Verse text

bibharṣi kāyaṁ pīvānaṁ sodyamo bhogavān yathā vittaṁ caivodyamavatāṁ bhogo vittavatām iha bhogināṁ khalu deho ’yaṁ pīvā bhavati nānyathā

Synonyms

bibharṣi — you are maintaining ; kāyam — a body ; pīvānam — fat ; sa — udyamaḥ — one who endeavors ; bhogavān — one who enjoys ; yathā — as ; vittam — money ; ca — also ; eva — certainly ; udyama — vatām — of persons always engaged in economic development ; bhogaḥ — sense gratification ; vitta — vatām — for persons who possess considerable wealth ; iha — in this world ; bhoginām — of the enjoyers, karmīs ; khalu — indeed ; dehaḥ — body ; ayam — this ; pīvā — very fat ; bhavati — becomes ; na — not ; anyathā — otherwise .

Translation

Seeing the saintly person to be quite fat, Prahlāda Mahārāja said: My dear sir, you undergo no endeavor to earn your livelihood, but you have a stout body, exactly like that of a materialistic enjoyer. I know that if one is very rich and has nothing to do, he becomes extremely fat by eating and sleeping and performing no work.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

You have a fat body like one who endeavors for enjoyment. A man who endeavors becomes wealth. The wealthy man enjoys. The enjoyer becomes fat. It does not happen otherwise. Pīvānam means fat. “You cannot say that your body has become fat simply by nature.” Those who endeavor become wealthy. Those who become wealthy enjoy. Those who enjoy become fat. One becomes fat by endeavor, not naturally.

Purport

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura did not like his disciples to become very fat in the course of time. He would become very anxious upon seeing his fat disciples becoming bhogīs, or enjoyers of the senses. This attitude is herewith confirmed by Prahlāda Mahārāja, who was surprised to see a saintly person adopting ājagara-vṛtti and becoming very fat. In the material world also, we generally see that when a man who is poor and skinny gradually endeavors to earn money through business or some other means and he then gets the money, he enjoys the senses to his satisfaction. By enjoying the senses one becomes fat. Therefore in spiritual advancement becoming fat is not at all satisfactory.