14 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 5, Ch. 14

they see water, but actually there is none. Similarly, those who are
animalistic try to find peace within the desert of material life. It is
repeatedly said in different Ssdstras that there is no pleasure in this
material world. Furthermore, even if we agree to live without pleasure,
we are not allowed to do so. In Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krsna says that the
material world is not only full of miseries (duhkhalayam) but also tem-
porary (asdsvatam). Even if we want to live here amid miseries, material
nature will not allow us to do so. It will oblige us to change bodies and
enter another atmosphere full of miserable conditions.

TEXT 7

afar  gdfad aaunofatiaaf: qaigqa-
fecacafrarrnat STee RATA IN|

kvacic cdsesa-dosa-nisadanam purisa-visesam tad-varna-guna-nirmita-
matih suvarnam updditsaty agni-kama-katara ivolmuka-pisdcam.

kvacit—sometimes: ca—also; asesa—unlimited; dosa—of faults;
nisadanam—the source of: purisa—of stool; visesam—a_ particular
type: tat-varna-guna—whose color is the same as that of the mode of
passion (reddish); nirmita-matih—whose mind is absorbed in that:
suvarnam—gold: upaditsati—desiring to get: agni-kdma—by the desire
for fire: katurah—who is troubled; iva—like: ulmuka-pisécam—a
phosphorescent light known as a will-o'-the-wisp, which is sometimes
mistaken for a ghost.

TRANSLATION

Sometimes the living entity is interested in the yellow stool
known as gold and runs after it. That gold is the source of material
opulence and envy, and it can enable one to afford illicit sex, gam-
bling, meat-eating and intoxication. Those whose minds are over-
come by the mode of passion are attracted by the color of gold, just
as a man suffering from cold in the forest runs after a phosphores-
cent light in a marshy land, considering it to be fire.
