Devanagari
किं नु बालेषु शूरेण कलिना धीरभीरुणा ।
अप्रमत्त: प्रमत्तेषु यो वृको नृषु वर्तते ॥ ८ ॥
Verse text
kiṁ nu bāleṣu śūreṇa
kalinā dhīra-bhīruṇā
apramattaḥ pramatteṣu
yo vṛko nṛṣu vartate
Synonyms
kim
—
what
;
nu
—
may be
;
bāleṣu
—
among the less intelligent persons
;
śūreṇa
—
by the powerful
;
kalinā
—
by the personality of Kali
;
dhīra
—
self-controlled
;
bhīruṇā
—
by one who is afraid of
;
apramattaḥ
—
one who is careful
;
pramatteṣu
—
among the careless
;
yaḥ
—
one who
;
vṛkaḥ
—
tiger
;
nṛṣu
—
among men
;
vartate
—
exists .
Translation
Mahārāja Parīkṣit considered that less intelligent men might find the personality of Kali to be very powerful, but that those who are self-controlled would have nothing to fear. The King was powerful like a tiger and took care for the foolish, careless persons.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Kali was an attentive tiger among inattentive men. But what could powerful Kali do to the innocent people since he was afraid of the devotees?
Purport
Those who are not devotees of the Lord are careless and unintelligent. Unless one is thoroughly intelligent, one cannot be a devotee of the Lord. Those who are not devotees of the Lord fall prey to the actions of Kali. It will not be possible to bring about a saner condition in society unless we are prepared to accept the modes of action adopted by Mahārāja Parīkṣit, i.e., propagation of the devotional service of the Lord to the common man.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The king had another intention. Was there a disturbance to the foolish people by Kali? There was none, because he had fear of the devotees — those who were discerning in nature. Kali was a powerful tiger among the innocent.