Shloka 23
The Kingdom of God (Vaikuṇṭha) and the Curse of Jaya and Vijaya
यन्न व्रजन्त्यघभिदो रचनानुवादा- च्छृण्वन्ति येऽन्यविषया: कुकथा मतिघ्नी: । यास्तु श्रुता हतभगैर्नृभिरात्तसारा- स्तांस्तान् क्षिपन्त्यशरणेषु तम:सु हन्त ॥ २३ ॥
yan na vrajanty agha-bhido racanānuvādāc chṛṇvanti ye ’nya-viṣayāḥ kukathā mati-ghnīḥ yās tu śrutā hata-bhagair nṛbhir ātta-sārās tāṁs tān kṣipanty aśaraṇeṣu tamaḥsu hanta
It is deeply lamentable that unfortunate people neither discuss nor hear the narrations of the Vaikuṇṭha realms of the Sin-destroying Lord, but instead take to base talk that bewilders the intelligence. Those who abandon Vaikuṇṭha-kathā and cling to worldly topics are cast into the darkest region of ignorance.
The most unfortunate persons are the impersonalists, who cannot understand the transcendental variegatedness of the spiritual world. They are afraid to talk about the beauty of the Vaikuṇṭha planets because they think that variegatedness must be material. Such impersonalists think that the spiritual world is completely void, or, in other words, that there is no variegatedness. This mentality is described here as ku-kathā mati-ghnīḥ, “intelligence bewildered by unworthy words.” The philosophies of voidness and of the impersonal situation of the spiritual world are condemned here because they bewilder one’s intelligence. How can the impersonalist and the void philosopher think of this material world, which is full of variegatedness, and then say that there is no variegatedness in the spiritual world? It is said that this material world is the perverted reflection of the spiritual world, so unless there is variegatedness in the spiritual world, how can there be temporary variegatedness in the material world? That one can transcend this material world does not imply that there is no transcendental variegatedness.
FAQs
This verse warns that talk unrelated to the Lord—though commonly heard—destroys discrimination and repeatedly throws a person into darkness (tamas), whereas hearing the Lord’s glories purifies.
Because Hari-kathā is presented as the opposite of ignorance: it cleanses sin and restores spiritual intelligence, while alternative sense-centered topics degrade the mind.
Reduce time spent on gossip/doom-scrolling and replace it with daily Bhagavatam listening/reading, kīrtana, and satsanga—choosing content that strengthens devotion and clarity.