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TEXT 31
ekah prapadyate dhvantam
hitvedam sva-kalevaram
kusaletara-patheyo
bhuta-drohena yad bhrtam
SYNONYMS
ekahalone; prapadyatehe enters; dhvantamdarkness; hitvaafter quitting; idamthis; svahis; kalevarambody; kusala-itarasin; patheyahhis passage money; bhutato other living entities; drohenaby injury; yatwhich body; bhrtamwas maintained.
TRANSLATION
He goes alone to the darkest regions of hell after quitting the present body, and the money he acquired by envying other living entities is the passage money with which he leaves this world.
PURPORT
When a man earns money by unfair means and maintains his family and himself with that money, the money is enjoyed by many members of the family, but he alone goes to hell. A person who enjoys life by earning money or by envying anothers life, and who enjoys with family and friends, will have to enjoy alone the resultant sinful reactions accrued from such violent and illicit life. For example, if a man secures some money by killing someone and with that money maintains his family, those who enjoy the black money earned by him are also partially responsible and are also sent to hell, but he who is the leader is especially punished. The result of material enjoyment is that one takes with him the sinful reaction only, and not the money. The money he earned is left in this world, and he takes only the reaction.
In this world also, if a person acquires some money by murdering someone, the family is not hanged, although its members are sinfully contaminated. But the man who commits the murder and maintains his family is himself hanged as a murderer. The direct offender is more responsible for sinful activities than the indirect enjoyer. The great learned scholar Canakya Pandita says, therefore, that whatever one has in his possession had better be spent for the cause of sat, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, because one cannot take his possessions with him. They remain here, and they will be lost. Either we leave the money or the money leaves us, but we will be separated. The best use of money as long as it is within our possession is to spend it to acquire Krsna consciousness.
Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/sb/3/30/31 Previous: SB 3.30.30 Next: SB 3.30.32
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