Text 6] Prahāda Instructs His Demoniac Schoolmates
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sane man, therefore, is always fearful of falling from his position. This is a regulative principle. One should not fall from his exalted position. The highest goal of life can be achieved as long as one's body is stout and strong. We should therefore live in such a way that we keep ourselves always healthy and strong in mind and intelligence so that we can distinguish the goal of life from a life full of problems. A thoughtful man must act in this way, learning to distinguish right from wrong, and thus attain the goal of life.
TEXT 6
पुंसो वर्षशतं ह्यायुस्तदर्थं चाजितात्मनः । निष्फलं यदसौ रात्र्यां शेतेऽन्धं प्रापितस्तमः ॥ ६ ॥
puṁso varṣa-śataṁ hy āyus tad-ardhaṁ cājitātmanaḥ niṣphalaṁ yad asau rātryāṁ śete 'ndhaṁ prāpitas tamaḥ
puṁsaḥ —of every human being;  varṣa-śataṁ —one hundred years;  hi —indeed;  āyuḥ —duration of life;  tat —of that;  ardhaṁ —half;  ca —and;  ajita-ātmanaḥ —of a person who is a servant of his senses;  niṣphalaṁ —without profit, without meaning;  yat —because;  asau —that person;  rātryāṁ —at night;  śete —sleeps;  andhaṁ —ignorance (forgetting his body and soul);  prāpitaḥ —being completely possessed of;  tamaḥ —darkness.
TRANSLATION
Every human being has a maximum duration of life of one hundred years, but for one who cannot control his senses, half of those years are completely lost because at night he sleeps twelve hours, being covered by ignorance. Therefore such a person has a lifetime of only fifty years.
PURPORT
Lord Brahmā, a human being and an ant all live for one hundred years, but their lifetimes of one hundred years are different from one