690 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 1, Ch. 13
of life so that they may come to their senses about the precarious life in
material existence. Dhrtarastra is a typical example of an attached old
man in household life. He had become a pauper in the true sense, yet he
wanted to live comfortably in the house of the Pandavas, of whom Bhima
especially is mentioned because personally he killed two prominent sons
of Dhrtarastra, namely Duryodhana and Duhsasana. These two sons were
very much dear to him for their notorious and nefarious activities, and
Bhima is particularly pointed out because he killed these two pet sons.
Why was Dhrtarastra living there at the house of the Pandavas? Because
he wanted to continue his life comfortably, even at the risk of all humilia-
tion. Vidura, therefore, was astonished how powerful is the urge to con-
tinue life. This sense of continuing one’s life indicates that a living being
is eternally a living entity, and he does not want to change his bodily
habitation. The foolish man does not know that a particular term of
bodily existence is awarded to him to undergo a term of imprisonment,
and the human body is awarded, after many, many births and deaths, as a
chance for self-realization to go back home, back to Godhead. But persons
like Dhrtarastra try to make plans to live there in a comfortable position
with profit and interest, for they do not see things as they are. Dhrtarastra
is blind and continues to hope to live comfortably in the midst of all kinds
of reverses of life. A sddhu like Vidura is meant to awaken such blind
persons and thus help them go back to Godhead, where life is eternal.
Once going there, no one wants to come back to this material world of
miseries. We can just imagine how responsible a task is entrusted to a
sadhu like Mahatma Vidura.
TEXT 24
aN
afar eer aR TTT ZARA: |
ad vt aa aqaat: faq URvIl
agnir nisrsto dattas ca
garo daras ca disitah
hrtam ksetrarn dhanam yesam
tad-dattair asubhih kiyat

agnih—fire; nisrstah—set; dattah—given; ca—and; garah—poison; darah—
married wife; ca—and; dusitah—insulted; hrtam—usurped; ksetram—king-
dom; dhanam—wealth; yesam—of those; tat—their; dattaih—given by;
asubhih—subsisting; kiyat—is unnecessary.
