30
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 5, Ch. 14]
tātala saikate, vāri-bindu-sama, suta-mita-ramaṇī-samāje
The happiness of family life is compared to a drop of water in the desert. No one can be happy in family life. According to the Vedic civilization, one cannot give up the responsibilities of family life, but today everyone is giving up family life by divorce. This is due to the miserable condition experienced in the family. Sometimes, due to misery, one becomes very hardened toward his affectionate sons, daughters and wife. This is but part of the blazing fire of the forest of material life.
TEXT 20
स एव पुनर्निद्राजगरगृहीतोऽन्धे तमसि मग्नः शून्यारण्य इव शेते नान्यत्किञ्चन वेद शव इवापविद्धः ॥ २० ॥
sa eva punar nidrājagara-grhīto 'ndhe tamasi magnaḥ śūnyāraṇya iva śete nānyat-kiñcana veda śava ivāpaviddhaḥ.
saḥ—that conditioned soul; eva—certainly; punaḥ—again; nidrā- ajagara—by the python of deep sleep; grhītaḥ—being devoured; andhe—in deep darkness; tamasi—in ignorance; magnaḥ—being ab- sorbed; śūnya-araṇye—in the isolated forest; iva—like; śete—he lies down; na—not; anyat—else; kiñcana—anything; veda—knows; śavaḥ—a dead body; iva—like; apaviddhaḥ—thrown away.
TRANSLATION
Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued speaking to Mahārāja Parīkṣit: My dear King, sleep is exactly like a python. Those who wander in the forest of material life are always devoured by the python of sleep. Being bitten by this python, they always remain in the darkness of ignorance. They are like dead bodies thrown in a distant forest. Thus the conditioned souls cannot understand what is going on in life.