Text 42] What Prahlāda Learned in the Womb
99
from this;  viparyāsam —the opposite;  amogham —unfailingly;  vindate —achieves;  phalam —result.
TRANSLATION
A materialistic person, thinking himself very advanced in intelligence, continually acts for economic development. But again and again, as enunciated in the Vedas, he is frustrated by material activities, either in this life or in the next. Indeed, the results one obtains are inevitably the opposite of those one desires.
PURPORT
No one has ever achieved the results he desired from material activities. On the contrary, everyone has been frustrated again and again. Therefore one must not waste his time in such material activities for sensual pleasure, either in this life or in the next. So many nationalists, economists and other ambitious persons have tried for happiness, individually or collectively, but history proves that they have all been frustrated. In recent history we have seen many political leaders work hard for individual and collective economic development, but they have all failed. This is the law of nature, as clearly explained in the next verse.
TEXT 42
सुखाय दुःखमोक्षाय सङ्कल्प इह कर्मिणः । सदाप्रोतीहया दुःखमनीहायाः सुखावृतः ॥४२॥
sukhāya duḥkha-mokṣāya saṅkalpa iha karmiṇaḥ sadāpnotihayā duḥkham anihāyāḥ sukhāvṛtaḥ
sukhāya —for achieving happiness by a so-called higher standard of life;  duḥkha-mokṣāya —for becoming free from misery;  saṅkalpaḥ —the determination;  iha —in this world;  karmiṇaḥ —of the living entity trying for economic development;  sadā —always;  āpnoti —achieves;  ihayā —by activity or ambition;  duḥkham —only unhappiness;