Shloka 20
Karma-vāda Critiqued, Varṇāśrama Reframed, and the Soul’s Distinction from the Body
कोऽन्वर्थ: सुखयत्येनं कामो वा मृत्युरन्तिके । आघातं नीयमानस्य वध्यस्येव न तुष्टिद: ॥ २० ॥
ko ’nv arthaḥ sukhayaty enaṁ kāmo vā mṛtyur antike āghātaṁ nīyamānasya vadhyasyeva na tuṣṭi-daḥ
မရဏာ နီးကပ်လာချိန်တွင် ကာမသို့မဟုတ် လောကီအာရုံပျော်ရွှင်မှုများက ဘယ်လိုပျော်ရွှင်စေနိုင်မလဲ။ သတ်ဒဏ်ခံရသူကို သတ်ရာသို့ ခေါ်ဆောင်သကဲ့သို့ တೃप्तি မရှိသလို၊ လောကီသုခလည်း တೃप्तိ မပေးနိုင်။
It is customary throughout the world that a condemned man is offered a sumptuous last meal. For the condemned man, however, such a feast is a chilling reminder of his imminent death, and therefore he cannot enjoy it. Similarly, no sane human being can be satisfied in material life, because death is standing near and may strike at any moment. If one is sitting in one’s living room with a deadly snake at one’s side, knowing that at any moment the poisonous fangs might pierce the flesh, how can one sit peacefully and watch television or read a book? Similarly, unless one is more or less crazy, one cannot be enthusiastic or even peaceful in material life. Knowledge of the inevitability of death should encourage one to become determined in spiritual life.
FAQs
This verse says that when death is close, even fulfilled desires cannot truly satisfy—like comforts offered to a condemned person on the way to execution.
Krishna is training Uddhava in renunciation and clear spiritual urgency, showing that worldly gains and pleasures are powerless to give lasting happiness in the face of mortality.
Remember life’s uncertainty and prioritize bhakti and self-realization over endless consumption—use time for mantra, service, and values that remain meaningful beyond temporary pleasure.