Shloka 12
Nīti on Friendship (Mitra), Discretion, Restraint, Health-Regimens, Prosperity (Śrī), and Family Dharma
पराधीना निद्रा परदृदयकृत्यानुसरणं सदा हेला हास्यं नियतमपि शोकेन रहितम् / पणे न्यस्तः कायो विटजनखुरैर्दारितगलो बहूत्कण्ठवृतिर्जगति गणिक्राया बहुमतः
parādhīnā nidrā paradṛdayakṛtyānusaraṇaṃ sadā helā hāsyaṃ niyatamapi śokena rahitam / paṇe nyastaḥ kāyo viṭajanakhurairdāritagalo bahūtkaṇṭhavṛtirjagati gaṇikrāyā bahumataḥ
તેની નિદ્રા પરાધીન છે; તે સદા પરના હૃદયની માંગ મુજબ ચાલવા મજબૂર છે. સતત બેદરકાર હાસ્ય અને બળજબરીનું રમૂજ રહે છે, છતાં તેમાં સાચો શોક નથી. જુગારમાં તેનું શરીર પણ પર મૂકાય છે; કામુક પુરુષોના ખુરા સમા પ્રહારો થી તેનું ગળું ફાટી જાય છે. અનેક આશ્રયદાતાઓ પર જીવતી તે ગણિકા, છતાં જગતમાં ‘અતિ મૂલ્યવાન’ ગણાય છે.
Lord Vishnu (in dialogue to Garuda/Vinata-putra)
Concept: Worldly society commodifies bodies and masks suffering with performative mirth; apparent honor can coexist with deep harm.
Vedantic Theme: Māyā of social prestige (loka-yaśas) and the bondage of kāma/artha; duḥkha arising from identification with body and transactional relations.
Application: Cultivate compassion and social responsibility; oppose exploitation; recognize performative happiness as possible trauma; practice ethical sexuality and non-harm.
Primary Rasa: karuna
Secondary Rasa: bibhatsa
Related Themes: Garuda Purana 1.114.13 (catalog of swift dangers; social hazards)
FAQs
This verse functions as a dharmic warning: it exposes how a life driven by others’ desires and vice (kāma, gambling, exploitation) leads to bondage, humiliation, and hidden suffering even when society calls it “valuable.”
By highlighting dependence, compulsive compliance, and bodily/mental injury caused by vice, the verse indicates how desire-based livelihoods intensify karmic entanglement, which the Garuda Purana later connects to painful post-death consequences.
Avoid livelihoods and habits that commodify the body or exploit desire; cultivate self-restraint and compassion, and choose ethical means of living that reduce harm and karmic bondage.