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Library » Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhāgavata Purāṇa) » Canto 10: The Summum Bonum » CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

ŚB 10.24.19

Devanagari

आजीव्यैकतरं भावं यस्त्वन्यमुपजीवति । न तस्माद् विन्दते क्षेमं जारान् नार्यसती यथा ॥ १९ ॥

Text

ājīvyaikataraṁ bhāvaṁ
yas tv anyam upajīvati
na tasmād vindate kṣemaṁ
jārān nāry asatī yathā

Synonyms

ājīvya — sustaining his life; ekataram — one; bhāvam — entity; yaḥ — who; tu — but; anyam — another; upajīvati — resorts to; na — not; tasmāt — from that one; vindate — gains; kṣemam — real benefit; jārāt — from a paramour; nārī — a woman; asatī — who is unchaste; yathā — as.

Translation

If one thing is actually sustaining our life but we take shelter of something else, how can we achieve any real benefit? We would be like an unfaithful woman, who can never achieve any actual benefit by consorting with her paramour.

Purport

The word kṣemam means actual prosperity, not merely the accumulation of money. Here Lord Kṛṣṇa boldly argues that just as a woman can never achieve actual dignity or enlightenment from an illicit lover, the residents of Vṛndāvana will never be happy by neglecting the real source of their prosperity and worshiping Indra instead. According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, the audacity that child Kṛṣṇa displayed before His father and other elders should be understood as an exhibition of transcendental anger aroused when He saw His eternal devotees worshiping an insignificant demigod.