Text 31] Prahlada, the Saintly Son of Hiranyakasipu 269

TEXT 31
14 Re: aviafa fF fra
aaa afevifaa: |
Aq == aquedeualaarat-
CASH TIARA TSU U2

na te viduh svartha-gatim hi visnurh
durdsaya ye bahir-artha-maninah
andha yathandhair upaniyaménds
te ‘pisa-tantryam uru-damni baddhah

na—not; te—they; viduh—know; sva-artha-gatim—the ultimate
goal of life, or their own real interest; hi—indeed; visnum—Lord Visnu
and His abode; durdsayah—being ambitious to enjoy this material
world; ye—who; bahih—external sense objects; artha-maninah—con-
sidering as valuable; andhah—persons who are blind; yatha—just as;
andhaih—by other blind men; upaniyamanah—being led; te—they;
api—although; iSa-tantryam—to the ropes (laws) of material nature;
uru—having very strong; daémni—cords; baddhah—bound.

TRANSLATION

Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of en-
joying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their
leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense ob-
jects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home,
back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Visnu. As
blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and
fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially
attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are
made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in
materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.

PURPORT

Since there must always be a difference of opinion between demons
and devotees, Hiranyakagipu, when criticized by his son Prahlada
