Devanagari
सन्ति ह्यसाधवो लोके दुर्मैत्राश्छद्मवेषिण: ।
तेषामुदेत्यघं काले रोग: पातकिनामिव ॥ २७ ॥
Verse text
santi hy asādhavo loke
durmaitrāś chadma-veṣiṇaḥ
teṣām udety aghaṁ kāle
rogaḥ pātakinām iva
Synonyms
santi
—
are
;
hi
—
indeed
;
asādhavaḥ
—
dishonest persons
;
loke
—
within this world
;
durmaitrāḥ
—
cheating friends
;
chadma
—
veṣiṇaḥ — wearing false garbs
;
teṣām
—
of all of them
;
udeti
—
arises
;
agham
—
the reaction of sinful life
;
kāle
—
in due course of time
;
rogaḥ
—
disease
;
pātakinām
—
of sinful men
;
iva
—
like .
Translation
In due course of time, various types of diseases are manifest in those who are sinful. Similarly, in this world there are many deceptive friends in false garbs, but eventually, because of their false behavior, their actual enmity becomes manifest.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
In this world there are dishonest, false friends, who disguise themselves. Just as disease appears in sinful persons with time, their hatred will also manifest in time.
By good fortune your partiality to the enemy has been revealed after so many days. Today I will give you a suitable gift. He makes a general statement with this specific intention. The hatred of those with false friendship will become evident by fate, just as disease becomes manifest in a sinner. It is said in the smṛti:
brahma-hā kṣaya-rogī syāt surā-paḥ śyāva-dantakaḥ
svarṇa-hārī tu kunakhī duścarmā guru-talpagaḥ
The killer of a brāhmaṇa gets tuberculosis. The alcoholic gets discolored teeth. The gold thief gets diseased nails. He who violates the guru’s wife gets leprosy. Yajṣavalkya Smṛti
Purport
Being anxious about the education of his boy Prahlāda, Hiraṇyakaśipu was very much dissatisfied. When Prahlāda began teaching about devotional service, Hiraṇyakaśipu immediately regarded the teachers as his enemies in the garb of friends. In this verse the words
rogaḥ pātakinām iva
refer to disease, which is the most sinful and miserable of the conditions of material life (
janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi
). Disease is the symptom of the body of a sinful person. The
smṛti-śāstras
say:
brahma-hā kṣaya-rogī syāt
surāpaḥ śyāvadantakaḥ
svarṇa-hārī tu kunakhī
duścarmā guru-talpagaḥ
Murderers of
brāhmaṇas
are later afflicted by tuberculosis, drunkards become toothless, those who have stolen gold are afflicted by diseased nails, and sinful men who have sexual connections with the wife of a superior are afflicted by leprosy and similar skin diseases.