Shloka 9
The Deliverance of Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva
Yamala-Arjuna Līlā Prelude and Culmination
हन्यन्ते पशवो यत्र निर्दयैरजितात्मभि: । मन्यमानैरिमं देहमजरामृत्यु नश्वरम् ॥ ९ ॥
hanyante paśavo yatra nirdayair ajitātmabhiḥ manyamānair imaṁ deham ajarāmṛtyu naśvaram
คนพาลผู้ควบคุมอินทรีย์ไม่ได้ และหลงยโสด้วยทรัพย์หรือชาติกำเนิดสูงศักดิ์ ย่อมโหดร้ายถึงกับฆ่าสัตว์ผู้น่าสงสารอย่างไร้เมตตา เพื่อเลี้ยงกายอันเสื่อมสลายนี้ ซึ่งเขากลับคิดว่าไม่แก่ไม่ตาย
When the modes of passion and ignorance increase in human society, giving rise to unnecessary economic development, the result is that people become involved with wine, women and gambling. Then, being mad, they maintain big slaughterhouses or occasionally go on pleasure excursions to kill animals. Forgetting that however one may try to maintain the body, the body is subject to birth, death, old age and disease, such foolish rascals engage in sinful activities, one after another. Being duṣkṛtīs, they completely forget the existence of the supreme controller, who is sitting within the core of everyone’s heart ( īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe ’rjuna tiṣṭhati ). That supreme controller is observing every bit of one’s activity, and He rewards or punishes everyone by giving one a suitable body made by material nature ( bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā ). In this way, sinful persons automatically receive punishment in different types of bodies. The root cause of this punishment is that when one unnecessarily accumulates wealth, one becomes more and more degraded, not knowing that his wealth will be finished with his next birth.
FAQs
This verse condemns animal killing as an act of cruelty performed by uncontrolled people, implying heavy karmic reactions and deep ignorance of the body’s mortality.
He highlights the delusion that fuels sin: forgetting mortality makes people act ruthlessly for temporary pleasure, ignoring dharma and the soul’s true welfare.
Cultivate self-control and compassion—reduce harm to other beings, live consciously of life’s impermanence, and align daily choices with dharma and devotion.