Shloka 15
Nārada Instructs Dakṣa’s Sons; Allegory of the World; Dakṣa Curses Nārada
तत्सङ्गभ्रंशितैश्वर्यं संसरन्तं कुभार्यवत् । तद्गतीरबुधस्येह किमसत्कर्मभिर्भवेत् ॥ १५ ॥
tat-saṅga-bhraṁśitaiśvaryaṁ saṁsarantaṁ kubhāryavat tad-gatīr abudhasyeha kim asat-karmabhir bhavet
Wie der Gatte einer Dirne jede Selbstständigkeit verliert, so verlängert auch das Lebewesen mit verunreinigter Einsicht sein materielles Umherirren. Von der Natur bedrängt folgt es den Regungen des Geistes, die Glück und Leid bringen; welchen Nutzen haben da fruchtbringende Werke?
Polluted intelligence has been compared to a prostitute. One who has not purified his intelligence is said to be controlled by that prostitute. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (2.41) , vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana: those who are actually serious are conducted by one kind of intelligence, namely, intelligence in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca buddhayo ’vyavasāyinām: one who is not fixed in proper intelligence discovers many modes of life. Thus involved in material activities, he is exposed to the different modes of material nature and subjected to varieties of so-called happiness and distress. If a man becomes the husband of a prostitute, he cannot be happy, and similarly one who follows the dictations of material intelligence and material consciousness will never be happy.
FAQs
This verse warns that harmful association destroys one’s prosperity and discernment, causing continued wandering in saṁsāra; sinful actions born from such association cannot produce an elevated destination.
Narada was steering Daksha’s sons away from worldly entanglement and toward spiritual intelligence, showing that asat-saṅga and sinful pursuits only deepen bondage rather than lead to liberation.
Choose uplifting company and habits—devotional hearing, chanting, and saintly association—because destructive influences erode judgment and pull one into repeated cycles of anxiety, vice, and failure.