Devanagari
आसुरी नाम पश्चाद् द्वास्तया याति पुरञ्जन: ।
ग्रामकं नाम विषयं दुर्मदेन समन्वित: ॥ ५२ ॥
Verse text
āsurī nāma paścād dvās
tayā yāti puraṣjanaḥ
grāmakaṁ nāma viṣayaṁ
durmadena samanvitaḥ
Synonyms
āsurī
—
of the name Āsurī
;
nāma
—
called
;
paścāt
—
on the western side
;
dvāḥ
—
gate
;
tayā
—
by which
;
yāti
—
used to go
;
puraṣjanaḥ
—
King Puraṣjana
;
grāmakam
—
of the name Grāmaka
;
nāma
—
called
;
viṣayam
—
the city of sense enjoyment
;
durmadena
—
by Durmada
;
samanvitaḥ
—
accompanied .
Translation
On the western side was a gate named Āsurī. Through that gate King Puraṣjana used to go to the city of Grāmaka, accompanied by his friend Durmada.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
On the western side was a gate named Āsurī. Through that gate King Puraṣjana used to go to the city of Grāmaka, accompanied by Durmada.
Asuras like to enjoy the senses. Therefore the gate is called Āsurī. Grāmaka means pleasure (ka) of the materialistic people (grama), sex life, using the sense organ Durmada (infatuated).
Purport
The gate on the western side of the city was known as Āsurī because it was especially meant for the
asuras.
The word
asura
refers to those who are interested in sense gratification, specifically in sex life, to which they are overly attracted. Thus Puraṣjana, the living entity, enjoys himself to his greatest satisfaction by means of the genitals. Consequently he used to go to the place known as Grāmaka. Material sense gratification is also called
grāmya,
and the place where sex life is indulged in to a great extent is called Grāmaka. When going to Grāmaka, Puraṣjana used to be accompanied by his friend Durmada. The word
viṣaya
refers to the four bodily necessities of life — eating, sleeping, mating and defending. The word
durmadena
may be analyzed in this way:
dur
means
duṣṭa,
or “sinful,” and
mada
means “madness.” Every living entity who is in contact with material nature is called
mada,
or mad. It is said:
piśācī pāile yena mati-cchanna haya
māyā-grasta jīvera haya se bhāva udaya
(Prema-vivarta)
When a person is haunted, he becomes practically insane. When one is in an insane condition, he speaks all kinds of nonsense. Thus to become engaged in sense gratification, one has to accept a friend who is
durmada,
or badly affected by the material disease.
The words
āsurī nāma paścād dvāḥ
are significant in another sense. The sunrise is first visible from the eastern side — the Bay of Bengal — and gradually it progresses toward the west. It is practically experienced that people in the West are more addicted to sense gratification. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself has certified,
paścimera loka saba mūḍha anācāra
(
Cc. Ādi
10.89): the more one goes to the western side, the more he will find people disinterested in spiritual life. He will find them behaving against the Vedic standards. Because of this, people living in the West are more addicted to sense gratification. In this
Bhāgavatam
it is confirmed:
āsurī nāma paścād dvāḥ.
In other words, the population on the western side is interested in an asuric civilization, that is, a materialistic way of life. Lord Caitanya consequently wanted this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement to be preached on the western side of the world so that people addicted to sense gratification might be benefited by His teachings.