Canto 10: The Summum BonumChapter 51: The Deliverance of Mucukunda

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.51.46

labdhvā jano durlabham atra mānuṣaḿ

kathañcid avyańgam ayatnato 'nagha

pādāravindaḿ na bhajaty asan-matir

gṛhāndha-kūpe patito yathā paśuḥ

SYNONYMS

labdhvā — attaining; janaḥa person; durlabham — rarely obtained; atrain this world; mānuṣam — the human form of life; kathañcit — somehow or other; avyańgam — with undistorted limbs (unlike the various animal forms); ayatnataḥ — without endeavor; anaghaO sinless one; pāda — Your feet; aravindam — lotuslike; na bhajatihe does not worship; asat — impure; matiḥ — his mentality; gṛha — of home; andha — blind; kūpein the well; patitaḥ — fallen; yathāas; paśuḥan animal.

TRANSLATION

That person has an impure mind who, despite having somehow or other automatically obtained the rare and highly evolved human form of life, does not worship Your lotus feet. Like an animal that has fallen into a blind well, such a person has fallen into the darkness of a material home.

PURPORT

Our real home is in the kingdom of God. Despite our tenacious determination to remain in our material home, death will rudely eject us from the theater of material affairs. To stay at home is not bad, nor is it bad to devote ourselves to our loved ones. But we must understand that our real home is eternal, in the spiritual kingdom.

The word ayatnataḥ indicates that human life has been automatically awarded to us. We have not constructed our human bodies, and therefore we should not foolishly claim, "This body is mine." The human form is a gift of God and should be used to achieve the perfection of God consciousness. One who does not understand this is asan-mati, possessed of dull, mundane understanding.

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