Shloka 54
Nārada Instructs Prācīnabarhiṣat: The Purañjana Narrative Begins
City of Nine Gates
अन्धावमीषां पौराणां निर्वाक्पेशस्कृतावुभौ । अक्षण्वतामधिपतिस्ताभ्यां याति करोति च ॥ ५४ ॥
andhāv amīṣāṁ paurāṇāṁ nirvāk-peśaskṛtāv ubhau akṣaṇvatām adhipatis tābhyāṁ yāti karoti ca
In that city were many citizens, among whom were two blind men named Nirvāk and Peśaskṛt. Though King Purañjana ruled over citizens who had eyes, he misfortunately kept company with those blind ones. With them he would wander here and there and carry out various deeds.
This is a reference to the arms and legs of the living entity. The two legs do not speak, and they are blind. If a person simply trusts his legs to take him walking, he is likely to fall into a hole or bump into something. Thus led by the blind legs, one’s life may be placed in jeopardy.
FAQs
It continues the Purañjana allegory: the embodied controller (the living being identifying with the body) moves and acts by relying on limited instruments—some compared to “blind” and “mute”—showing how perception and action depend on the senses and their capacities.
To redirect the king from mere ritualistic fruitive work toward self-knowledge and devotion, by exposing how the soul becomes entangled through bodily identification and sense-driven action.
Recognize that your abilities are mediated by imperfect senses and mental tools; practice mindful restraint and bhakti (hearing, chanting, remembrance) to act with spiritual clarity rather than being driven by sense-impulses.