SB 10.51.46 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

लब्ध्वा जनो दुर्लभमत्र मानुषं कथञ्चिदव्यङ्गमयत्नतोऽनघ । पादारविन्दं न भजत्यसन्मति- र्गृहान्धकूपे पतितो यथा पशु: ॥ ४६ ॥

Verse text

labdhvā jano durlabham atra mānuṣaṁ kathaṣcid avyaṅgam ayatnato ’nagha pādāravindaṁ na bhajaty asan-matir gṛhāndha-kūpe patito yathā paśuḥ

Synonyms

labdhvā — attaining ; janaḥ — a person ; durlabham — rarely obtained ; atra — in this world ; mānuṣam — the human form of life ; kathaṣcit — somehow or other ; avyaṅgam — with undistorted limbs (unlike the various animal forms) ; ayatnataḥ — without endeavor ; anagha — O sinless one ; pāda — Your feet ; aravindam — lotuslike ; na bhajati — he does not worship ; asat — impure ; matiḥ — his mentality ; gṛha — of home ; andha — blind ; kūpe — in the well ; patitaḥ — fallen ; yathā — as ; paśuḥ — an animal .

Translation

That person has an impure mind who, despite having somehow or other automatically obtained the rare and highly evolved human form of life, does not worship Your lotus feet. Like an animal that has fallen into a blind well, such a person has fallen into the darkness of a material home.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

That person has an impure mind who, despite having somehow or other automatically obtained the rare and highly evolved human form of life, does not worship Your lotus feet. Like an animal that has fallen into a blind well, such a person has fallen into the darkness of a material home. KB 10.51.46 “These foolish persons, not knowing how fortunate they are to have obtained this human form of life, are reluctant to worship Your lotus feet. By the influence of Your external energy, they are attached to the glare of material activities, to so-called society, friendship and love, like dumb animals that have fallen into a dark well.” The example of a dark well is given because in the fields there are many wells, unused for years and covered over by grass, and poor animals, not knowing of them, fall into them, and unless rescued they die. Being captivated by a few blades of grass, the animals fall into a dark well and meet death. Similarly, foolish persons, without knowing the importance of the human form of life, spoil it simply for sense gratification and die without any useful purpose.

Purport

Our real home is in the kingdom of God. Despite our tenacious determination to remain in our material home, death will rudely eject us from the theater of material affairs. To stay at home is not bad, nor is it bad to devote ourselves to our loved ones. But we must understand that our real home is eternal, in the spiritual kingdom. The word ayatnataḥ indicates that human life has been automatically awarded to us. We have not constructed our human bodies, and therefore we should not foolishly claim, “This body is mine.” The human form is a gift of God and should be used to achieve the perfection of God consciousness. One who does not understand this is asan-mati, possessed of dull, mundane understanding.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The ignorant man, for a few pennies sells the cintamani jewel. That is the essence of this verse. After attaining a rare human birth in the land of Bharata (iha) with no deformity, falling into the well of household life like an animal, the materialist fails to worship you.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Mānuṣaṁ should be mānuṣyam (human form of life). O Lord who destroys all suffering (anagha) for the person worships you a little! By karma (kathañcit), having attained a human form, he does not worship lotus feet. He does not mention “your” feet since it is understood from the context. He does not worship with reverence or inattentively. This is because he is without discrimination (asan-matiḥ) like an animal. Thus he falls into the dark well of household life.