Text 14] Indra Offends Brhaspati 37

TEXT 14

at errant qaat aafe «aa: |
Ira FT wT A eel

tesam kupatha-destrnam
patatam tamasi hy adhah

ye Sraddadhyur vacas te vai
majjanty asma-plava iva

tesam—of them (the misleaders); ku-patha-destfndm—who show the
path of danger; patatam—themselves falling; tamasi—in darkness;
hi—indeed; adhah—down; ye—anyone who; sraddadhyuh—place
faith in; vacah—the words; te—they; vai—indeed; majjanti—sink;
asma-plavah—boats made of stone; iva—like.

TRANSLATION

Leaders who have fallen into ignorance and who mislead people
by directing them to the path of destruction [as described in the
previous verse] are, in effect, boarding a stone boat, and so too are
those who blindly follow them. A stone boat would be unable to
float and would sink in the water with its passengers. Similarly,
those who mislead people go to hell, and their followers go with
them.

PURPORT
As stated in the Vedic literature (Bhag. 11.20.17):

nr-deham ddyam sulabham sudurlabham
plavam sukalpam guru-karna-dharam

We, the conditioned souls, have fallen in the ocean of nescience, but the
human body fortunately provides us a good opportunity to cross the
ocean because the human body is like a very good boat. When directed by
a spiritual master acting as the captain, the boat can very easily cross the
ocean. Furthermore, the boat is helped across by favorable winds. which
are the instructions of Vedic knowledge. If one does not take advantage
