Text 23]
Description of the Kingdom of God
593
यास्तु श्रुता हतभगैर्नृभिरात्तसारा- स्तांस्तान् क्षिपन्त्यशरणेषु तमःसु हन्त ॥२३॥
yan na vrajanty agha-bhido racanānuvādāc chṛṇvanti ye 'nya-viṣayāḥ ku-kathā mati-ghnīḥ yās tu śrutā hata-bhagair nṛbhir ātta-sārās tāṁs tān kṣipanty aśaraṇeṣu tamaḥsu hanta
yat —Vaikuṇṭha;  na —never;  vrajanti —approach;  agha-bhidaḥ —of the vanquisher of all kinds of sins;  racanā —of the creation;  anuvādāt —than narrations;  śṛṇvanti —hear;  ye —those who;  anya —other;  viṣayāḥ —subject matter;  ku-kathāḥ —bad words;  mati-ghnīḥ —killing intelligence;  yāḥ —which;  tu —but;  śrutāḥ —are heard;  hata-bhagaiḥ —unfortunate;  nṛbhiḥ —by men;  ātta —taken away;  sārāḥ —values of life;  tān tān —such persons;  kṣipanti —are thrown;  aśaraṇeṣu —devoid of all shelter;  tamaḥsu —in the darkest part of material existence;  hanta —alas.
TRANSLATION
It is very much regrettable that unfortunate people do not discuss the description of the Vaikuṇṭha planets but engage in topics which are unworthy to hear and which bewilder one's intelligence. Those who give up the topics of Vaikuṇṭha and take to talk of the material world are thrown into the darkest region of ignorance.
PURPORT
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