Srimad Bhagavatam — Ekadasha Skandha, Shloka 58
Varṇāśrama-dharma as a Path to Bhakti
Yuga-dharma Origins, Universal Virtues, Brahmacarya and Gṛhastha Duties
एवं गृहाशयाक्षिप्तहृदयो मूढधीरयम् । अतृप्तस्ताननुध्यायन् मृतोऽन्धं विशते तम: ॥ ५८ ॥
evaṁ gṛhāśayākṣipta- hṛdayo mūḍha-dhīr ayam atṛptas tān anudhyāyan mṛto ’ndhaṁ viśate tamaḥ
Ainsi, par sottise, le maître de maison dont le cœur est submergé par l’attachement familial n’est jamais rassasié. Méditant sans cesse sur les siens, il meurt et entre dans les ténèbres de l’ignorance.
Andhaṁ viśate tamaḥ indicates that in his next life an attached householder will certainly be degraded because of his primitive mentality of bodily attachment, which is called mūḍha-dhī. In other words, after enjoying the sense gratification of considering oneself the center of everything, one enters into a lower species of life. Somehow or other, we must fix our minds on Lord Kṛṣṇa and come out of the darkness of ignorance to our real life in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
FAQs
This verse says that one whose heart is pulled by household-centered attachment dies still thinking of those attachments and thus enters “blind darkness,” meaning deeper ignorance and suffering rather than liberation.
In the Uddhava-gītā section, Kṛṣṇa teaches Uddhava detachment and spiritual clarity, warning that unresolved attachment (gṛhāśaya) shapes one’s consciousness at death and leads away from mokṣa.
Do your duties, but reduce possessiveness: practice daily bhakti (hearing, chanting, worship), offer home and work to Bhagavān, and train the mind to remember Kṛṣṇa more than possessions—so remembrance at death becomes spiritual, not binding.