Text 6] Prahlada Instructs His Demoniac Schoolmates 9
sane man, therefore, is always fearful of falling from his position. This is
a regulative principle. One should not fall from his exalted position. The
highest goal of life can be achieved as long as one’s body is stout and
strong. We should therefore live in such a way that we keep ourselves al-
ways healthy and strong in mind and intelligence so that we can dis-
tinguish the goal of life from a life full of problems. A thoughtful man
must act in this way, learning to distinguish right from wrong, and thus
attain the goal of life.
TEXT 6
° cs
Gat aad aad afsarcaa: |
fared TEM CHa Aased TTR: HK II
pumso varsa-satam hy dyus
tad-ardham cdjitatmanah
nisphalam yad asau ratryam
Sete ‘ndham prdapitas tamah

pumsah—of every human being; varsa-satam—one hundred years;
hi—indeed; dyuh—duration of life; tat—of that; ardham—half; ca—
and; ajita-dtmanah—of a person who is a servant of his senses;
nisphalam—without profit, without meaning; yat—because; asau—that
person; rdtryam—at night; sete—sleeps; andham—ignorance (forget-
ting his body and soul); prapitah—being completely possessed of;
tamah—darkness.

TRANSLATION

Every human being has a maximum duration of life of one
hundred years, but for one who cannot control his senses, half of
those years are completely lost because at night he sleeps twelve
hours, being covered by ignorance. Therefore such a person has a
lifetime of only fifty years.

PURPORT

Lord Brahma, a human being and an ant all live for one hundred

years, but their lifetimes of one hundred years are different from one
