Text 10] Prahlāda Instructs His Demoniac Schoolmates
15
ko nv artha-trṣṇām visṛjet prāṇebhyo 'pi ya īpsitaḥ yam krīṇāty asubhiḥ preṣṭhais taskaraḥ sevako vaṇik
kaḥ—who; nu—indeed; artha-trṣṇām—a strong desire to acquire money; visṛjet—can give up; prāṇebhyaḥ—than life; api—indeed; yaḥ—which; īpsitaḥ—more desired; yam—which; krīṇāti—tries to acquire; asubhiḥ—with his own life; preṣṭhaiḥ—very dear; taskaraḥ—a thief; sevakaḥ—a professional servant; vaṇik—a merchant.
TRANSLATION
Money is so dear that one conceives of money as being sweeter than honey. Therefore, who can give up the desire to accumulate money, especially in household life? Thieves, professional servants [soldiers] and merchants try to acquire money even by risking their very dear lives.
PURPORT
How money can be dearer than life is indicated in this verse. Thieves may enter the house of a rich man to steal money at the risk of their lives. Because of trespassing, they may be killed by guns or attacked by watchdogs, but still they try to commit burglary. Why do they risk their lives? Only to get some money. Similarly, a professional soldier is recruited into the army, and he accepts such service, with the risk of dying on the battlefield, only for the sake of money. In the same way, merchants go from one country to another on boats at the risk of their lives, or they dive into the water of the sea to collect pearls and valuable gems. Thus it is practically proved—and everyone will admit—that money is sweeter than honey. One may risk everything to acquire money, and this is especially true of rich men who are too attached to household life. Formerly, of course, the members of the higher castes—the  brāhmaṇas ,  kṣatriyas  and  vaiśyas  (everyone but the  śūdras )—were trained in the  guru-kula  to adhere to a life of renunciation and sense control by practicing  brahmacarya  and mystic  yoga . Then they were allowed to enter household life. There have consequently been many