Devanagari
नैवाविदन् क्षीयमाणं जलं गाधजलेचरा: ।
यथायुरन्वहं क्षय्यं नरा मूढा: कुटुम्बिन: ॥ ३७ ॥
Verse text
naivāvidan kṣīyamāṇaṁ
jalaṁ gādha-jale-carāḥ
yathāyur anv-ahaṁ kṣayyaṁ
narā mūḍhāḥ kuṭumbinaḥ
Synonyms
na
—
not
;
eva
—
indeed
;
avidan
—
appreciated
;
kṣīyamāṇam
—
diminishing
;
jalam
—
the water
;
gādha
—
jale — in shallow water
;
carāḥ
—
those who move
;
yathā
—
as
;
āyuḥ
—
their life span
;
anu
—
aham — every day
;
kṣayyam
—
diminishing
;
narāḥ
—
men
;
mūḍhāḥ
—
foolish
;
kuṭumbinaḥ
—
living with family members .
Translation
The fish swimming in the increasingly shallow water did not at all understand that the water was diminishing, just as foolish family men cannot see how the time they have left to live is diminishing with every passing day.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The fish swimming in the increasingly shallow water did not at all understand that the water was diminishing, just as foolish family men cannot see how the time they have left to live is diminishing with every passing day.
KB 10.20.37
The small ponds, which were filled with water because of the rainy season, gradually dry up in autumn. As for the small aquatics living in the reservoirs, they cannot understand that their ponds are diminishing day by day, just as the materially engrossed persons cannot understand that their duration of life is being reduced day by day. Such persons are engaged in maintaining cows, property, children, wife, society and friendship.
Purport
After the rainy season the water gradually goes down, but stupid fish do not understand this; thus they are often stranded on the lakeshores and riverbanks. Similarly, those infatuated with family life do not understand that the remainder of their life is constantly decreasing; thus they fail to perfect their Kṛṣṇa consciousness and are stranded in the cycle of birth and death.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
As a foolish man attached to his family does not realize that his lifespan is decreasing at every moment, fish play in the shallow water, not realizing that it is decreasing at every moment. This is a negative analogy.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Since the fish are accustomed to shallow water, they should know that the water is decreasing. However they do not know this. It is possible for the householder to realize that his life is temporary by seeing the death of his family members, but he does not.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
The fish, being small, since he is used to swimming in deep water, does not understand that the water, which is like his life, is diminishing. The man of no discrimination, attached to wife and sons, is like the small fish in the water. He does not see death though he can infer it from the death of his father. Unlike the fish, he is called a fool. Or, the fish should understand the water is diminishing since it usually swims in deep water. Thus the fish is a fool, without intelligence. The phrase anv-aham day by day) applies to both sentences. The man also by seeing death of his family members should understand that his life is diminishing.