SB 6.1.22 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

बन्द्यक्षै: कैतवैश्चौर्यैर्गर्हितां वृत्तिमास्थित: । बिभ्रत्कुटुम्बमशुचिर्यातयामास देहिन: ॥ २२ ॥

Verse text

bandy-akṣaiḥ kaitavaiś cauryair garhitāṁ vṛttim āsthitaḥ bibhrat kuṭumbam aśucir yātayām āsa dehinaḥ

Synonyms

bandī — akṣaiḥ — by unnecessarily arresting someone ; kaitavaiḥ — by cheating in gambling or throwing dice ; cauryaiḥ — by committing theft ; garhitām — condemned ; vṛttim — professions ; āsthitaḥ — who has undertaken (because of association with a prostitute) ; bibhrat — maintaining ; kuṭumbam — his dependent wife and children ; aśuciḥ — being most sinful ; yātayām āsa — he gave trouble ; dehinaḥ — to other living entities .

Translation

This fallen brāhmaṇa, Ajāmila, gave trouble to others by arresting them, by cheating them in gambling or by directly plundering them. This was the way he earned his livelihood and maintained his wife and children.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

That sinful brāhmaṇa maintained that wife and her children by taking up a condemned profession, by tying people up, gambling, cheating and stealing. He thus afflicted many living entities Bandī means making someone a prisoner. Akṣaiḥ means “by gambling.” He made a living by cheating, gambling and imprisoning others. Thus he gave pain to other living entities.

Purport

This verse indicates how degraded one becomes simply by indulging in illicit sex with a prostitute. Illicit sex is not possible with a chaste or aristocratic woman, but only with unchaste śūdras. The more society allows prostitution and illicit sex, the more impetus it gives to cheaters, thieves, plunderers, drunkards and gamblers. Therefore we first advise all the disciples in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement to avoid illicit sex, which is the beginning of all abominable life and which is followed by meat-eating, gambling and intoxication, one after another. Of course, restraint is very difficult, but it is quite possible if one fully surrenders to Kṛṣṇa, since all these abominable habits gradually become distasteful for a Kṛṣṇa conscious person. If illicit sex is allowed to increase in a society, however, the entire society will be condemned, for it will be full of rogues, thieves, cheaters and so forth.