TEXT 23
yan na vrajanty agha-bhido racananuvadac
chrnvanti ye nya-visayah kukatha mati-ghnih
yas tu sruta hata-bhagair nrbhir atta-saras
tams tan ksipanty asaranesu tamahsu hanta
SYNONYMS
yatVaikuntha; nanever; vrajantiapproach; agha-bhidahof the vanquisher of all kinds of sins; racanaof the creation; anuvadatthan narrations; srnvantihear; yethose who; anyaother; visayahsubject matter; ku-kathahbad words; mati-ghnihkilling intelligence; yahwhich; tubut; srutahare heard; hata-bhagaihunfortunate; nrbhihby men; attataken away; sarahvalues of life; tan tansuch persons; ksipantiare thrown; asaranesudevoid of all shelter; tamahsuin the darkest part of material existence; hantaalas.
TRANSLATION
It is very much regrettable that unfortunate people do not discuss the description of the Vaikuntha planets but engage in topics which are unworthy to hear and which bewilder ones intelligence. Those who give up the topics of Vaikuntha and take to talk of the material world are thrown into the darkest region of ignorance.
PURPORT
The most unfortunate persons are the impersonalists, who cannot understand the transcendental variegatedness of the spiritual world. They are afraid to talk about the beauty of the Vaikuntha planets because they think that variegatedness must be material. Such impersonalists think that the spiritual world is completely void, or, in other words, that there is no variegatedness. This mentality is described here as ku-katha mati-ghnih, intelligence bewildered by unworthy words. The philosophies of voidness and of the impersonal situation of the spiritual world are condemned here because they bewilder ones intelligence. How can the impersonalist and the void philosopher think of this material world, which is full of variegatedness, and then say that there is no variegatedness in the spiritual world? It is said that this material world is the perverted reflection of the spiritual world, so unless there is variegatedness in the spiritual world, how can there be temporary variegatedness in the material world? That one can transcend this material world does not imply that there is no transcendental variegatedness.
Here in the Bhagavatam, in this verse particularly, it is stressed that people who try to discuss and understand the real spiritual nature of the spiritual sky and the Vaikunthas are fortunate. The variegatedness of the Vaikuntha planets is described in relation to the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. But instead of trying to understand the spiritual abode and the spiritual activities of the Lord, people are more interested in politics and economic developments. They hold many conventions, meetings and discussions to solve the problems of this worldly situation, where they can remain for only a few years, but they are not interested in understanding the spiritual situation of the Vaikuntha world. If they are at all fortunate, they become interested in going back home, back to Godhead, but unless they understand the spiritual world, they rot in this material darkness continuously.

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