Text 26]
The Forest of Enjoyment
37
from one side or the other. The conditioned soul must be disturbed by at least one of these three miseries. There is no escape.
TEXT 26
क्वचिन्मिथो व्यवहरन् यत्किञ्चिद्धनमन्येम्यो वा काकिणिकामात्रमप्यहरन् यत्किञ्चिद्धा विद्वेषमेति वित्तशास्त्रात् ॥ २६ ॥
kvacin mitho vyavaharan yat kiñcid dhanam anyebhyo vā kākiṇikā- mātram apy apaharan yat kiñcid vā vidveṣam eti vitta-śāṭhyāt.
kvacit —sometimes;  mithaḥ —with one another;  vyavaharan —trading;  yat kiñcit —whatever little bit;  dhanam —money;  anyebhyaḥ —from others;  vā —or;  kākiṇikā-mātram —a very small amount (twenty cowries);  api —certainly;  apaharan —taking away by cheating;  yat kiñcit —whatever small amount;  vā —or;  vidveṣam eti —creates enmity;  vitta-śāṭhyāt —because of cheating.
TRANSLATION
As far as transactions with money are concerned, if one person cheats another by a farthing or less, they become enemies.
PURPORT
This is called  saṁsāra-dāvānala . Even in ordinary transactions between two people, there is invariably cheating because the conditioned soul is defective in four ways—he is illusioned, he commits mistakes, his knowledge is imperfect, and he has a propensity to cheat. Unless one is liberated from material conditioning, these four defects must be there. Consequently every man has a cheating propensity, which is employed in business or money transactions. Although two friends may be living peacefully together, due to their propensity to cheat they become enemies when there is a transaction between them. A philosopher accuses an economist of being a cheater, and an economist may accuse a philosopher of being a cheater when he comes in contact with money. In any case, this is the condition of material life. One may profess a high philosophy, but when one is in need of money, he becomes a cheater. In this material world, so-called scientists, philosophers and economists are