Text 10] Prahlada Instructs His Demoniac Schoolmates 15
ko nv artha-trsnam visrjet
pranebhyo ‘pi ya ipsitah
yam krinaty asubhih presthais
taskarah sevako vanik

kah—who; nu—indeed; artha-trsnadm—a strong desire to acquire
money; visrjet—can give up; prdnebhyah—than life; api—indeed;
yah—which; ipsitah—more desired; yam—which; krindti—tries to ac-
quire; asubhih—with his own life; presthaih—very dear; taskarah—a
thief; sevakah—a professional servant; vanik—a merchant.

TRANSLATION

Money is so dear that one conceives of money as being sweeter
than honey. Therefore, who can give up the desire to accumulate
money, especially in household life? Thieves, professional ser-
vants [soldiers] and merchants try to acquire money even by risk-
ing their very dear lives.

PURPORT

How money can be dearer than life is indicated in this verse. Thieves
may enter the house of a rich man to steal money at the risk of their
lives. Because of trespassing, they may be killed by guns or attacked by
watchdogs, but still they try to commit burglary. Why do they risk their
lives? Only to get some money. Similarly, a professional soldier is
recruited into the army, and he accepts such service, with the risk of
dying on the battlefield, only for the sake of money. In the same way,
merchants go from one country to another on boats at the risk of their
lives, or they dive into the water of the sea to collect pearls and valuable
gems. Thus it is practically proved—and everyone will admit—that
money is sweeter than honey. One may risk everything to acquire
money, and this is especially true of rich men who are too attached to
household life. Formerly, of course, the members of the higher castes—
the brahmanas, ksatriyas and vaisyas (everyone but the siidras) —were
trained in the guru-kula to adhere to a life of renunciation and sense
control by practicing brahmacarya and mystic yoga. Then they were
allowed to enter household life. There have consequently been many
