14
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 5, Ch. 14]
they see water, but actually there is none. Similarly, those who are animalistic try to find peace within the desert of material life. It is repeatedly said in different  śāstras  that there is no pleasure in this material world. Furthermore, even if we agree to live without pleasure, we are not allowed to do so. In  Bhagavad-gītā , Lord Kṛṣṇa says that the material world is not only full of miseries ( duḥkhālayam ) but also temporary ( aśāsvatam ). Even if we want to live here amid miseries, material nature will not allow us to do so. It will oblige us to change bodies and enter another atmosphere full of miserable conditions.
TEXT 7
कचिच्चाशेषदोषनिषदनं पुरीषविशेषं तद्वर्णगुणनिर्मितमतिः सुवर्णमुपादित्सत्यग्रिकामकातर इवोल्मुकपिशाचम् ॥७॥
kvacic cāśeṣa-doṣa-niṣadanam purīṣa-viśeṣam tad-varṇa-guṇa-nirmita-matiḥ suvarṇam upāditsaty agni-kāma-kātara ivolmuka-piśācam.
kvacit—sometimes; ca—also; aśeṣa—unlimited; doṣa—of faults; niṣadanam—the source of; purīṣa—of stool; viśeṣam—a particular type; tat-varṇa-guṇa—whose color is the same as that of the mode of passion (reddish); nirmita-matiḥ—whose mind is absorbed in that; suvarṇam—gold; upāditsati—desiring to get; agni-kāma—by the desire for fire; kāturaḥ—who is troubled; iva—like; ulmuka-piśācam—a phosphorescent light known as a will-o'-the-wisp, which is sometimes mistaken for a ghost.
TRANSLATION
Sometimes the living entity is interested in the yellow stool known as gold and runs after it. That gold is the source of material opulence and envy, and it can enable one to afford illicit sex, gambling, meat-eating and intoxication. Those whose minds are overcome by the mode of passion are attracted by the color of gold, just as a man suffering from cold in the forest runs after a phosphorescent light in a marshy land, considering it to be fire.