Devanagari
को न्वर्थतृष्णां विसृजेत्प्राणेभ्योऽपि य ईप्सित: ।
यं क्रीणात्यसुभि: प्रेष्ठैस्तस्कर: सेवको वणिक् ॥ १० ॥
Verse text
ko nv artha-tṛṣṇāṁ visṛjet
prāṇebhyo ’pi ya īpsitaḥ
yaṁ krīṇāty asubhiḥ preṣṭhais
taskaraḥ sevako vaṇik
Synonyms
kaḥ
—
who
;
nu
—
indeed
;
artha
—
tṛṣṇām — a strong desire to acquire money
;
visṛjet
—
can give up
;
prāṇebhyaḥ
—
than life
;
api
—
indeed
;
yaḥ
—
which
;
īpsitaḥ
—
more desired
;
yam
—
which
;
krīṇāti
—
tries to acquire
;
asubhiḥ
—
with his own life
;
preṣṭhaiḥ
—
very dear
;
taskaraḥ
—
a thief
;
sevakaḥ
—
a professional servant
;
vaṇik
—
a merchant .
Translation
Money is so dear that one conceives of money as being sweeter than honey. Therefore, who can give up the desire to accumulate money, especially in household life? Thieves, professional servants [soldiers] and merchants try to acquire money even by risking their very dear lives.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Who can give up the thirst for money which is dearer than the life airs, and for which the thief, servants and merchant risk their lives.
This verse illustrates the strength of material attachment. Wealth is dearer than the life airs. That is explained. Thieves risk their lives by entering the house of a wealthy man at night to steal. Servants of the king risk their lives, by going to war for the king. Merchants risk their lives by going to difficult places across the ocean.
Purport
How money can be dearer than life is indicated in this verse. Thieves may enter the house of a rich man to steal money at the risk of their lives. Because of trespassing, they may be killed by guns or attacked by watchdogs, but still they try to commit burglary. Why do they risk their lives? Only to get some money. Similarly, a professional soldier is recruited into the army, and he accepts such service, with the risk of dying on the battlefield, only for the sake of money. In the same way, merchants go from one country to another on boats at the risk of their lives, or they dive into the water of the sea to collect pearls and valuable gems. Thus it is practically proved — and everyone will admit — that money is sweeter than honey. One may risk everything to acquire money, and this is especially true of rich men who are too attached to household life. Formerly, of course, the members of the higher castes — the
brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas
and
vaiśyas
(everyone but the
śūdras
) — were trained in the
gurukula
to adhere to a life of renunciation and sense control by practicing
brahmacarya
and mystic
yoga.
Then they were allowed to enter household life. There have consequently been many instances in which great kings and emperors have given up household life. Although they were extremely opulent and were the masters of kingdoms, they could give up all their possessions because they were trained early as
brahmacārīs.
Prahlāda Mahārāja’s advice is therefore very appropriate:
kaumāra ācaret prājṣo
dharmān bhāgavatān iha
durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma
tad apy adhruvam arthadam
“One who is sufficiently intelligent should use the human form of body from the very beginning of life — in other words, from the tender age of childhood — to practice the activities of devotional service, giving up all other engagements. The human body is most rarely achieved, and although temporary like other bodies, it is meaningful because in human life one can perform devotional service. Even a slight amount of sincere devotional service can give one complete perfection.” Human society should take advantage of this instruction.