Text 31] Prahlāda, the Saintly Son of Hiraṇyakaśipu
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TEXT 31
न ते विदुः स्वार्थगति हि विष्णुं
दुराशया ये बहिरर्थमानिनः ।
अन्धा यथान्धैरुपनीयमाना -
स्तेऽपीशतन्त्र्यामुरुदान्नि बद्धाः ॥३१॥
na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās te 'pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ
na —not;  te —they;  viduḥ —know;  sva-artha-gatiṁ —the ultimate goal of life, or their own real interest;  hi —indeed;  viṣṇuṁ —Lord Viṣṇu and His abode;  durāśayāḥ —being ambitious to enjoy this material world;  ye —who;  bahiḥ —external sense objects;  artha-māninaḥ —considering as valuable;  andhāḥ —persons who are blind;  yathā —just as;  andhaiḥ —by other blind men;  upanīyamānāḥ —being led;  te —they;  api —although;  īśa-tantryām —to the ropes (laws) of material nature;  uru —having very strong;  dāmni —cords;  baddhāḥ —bound.
TRANSLATION
Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṇu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.
PURPORT
Since there must always be a difference of opinion between demons and devotees, Hiraṇyakaśipu, when criticized by his son Prahlāda