Speaker: Arjuna
उत्सन्नकुलधर्माणां मनुष्याणां जनार्दन ।
नरके नियतं वासो भवतीत्यनुशुश्रुम ॥४३॥
utsanna-kula-dharmāṇāṁ
manuṣyāṇāṁ janārdana
narake niyataṁ vāso
bhavatīty anuśuśruma
Word for word (synonyms)
- utsanna
- spoiled
- kula-dharmāṇām
- of those who have the family traditions
- manuṣyāṇām
- of such men
- janārdana
- O Kṛṣṇa
- narake
- in hell
- niyatam
- always
- vāsaḥ
- residence
- bhavati
- it so becomes
- iti
- thus
- anuśuśruma
- I have heard by disciplic succession
Translation
O Kṛṣṇa, maintainer of the people, I have heard by disciplic succession that those who destroy family traditions dwell always in hell.
Purport
Arjuna bases his argument not on his own personal experience, but on what he has heard from the authorities. That is the way of receiving real knowledge. One cannot reach the real point of factual knowledge without being helped by the right person who is already established in that knowledge. There is a system in the varṇāśrama institution by which one has to undergo the process of ablution before death for his sinful activities. One who is always engaged in sinful activities must utilize the process of ablution called the prāyaścitta. Without doing so, one surely will be transferred to hellish planets to undergo miserable lives as the result of sinful activities.
What this verse teaches
Fourth reason – Harmful effects of destroying the family
- Gita for Life
- Family and relationships
Śrīla Prabhupāda lectures 1
- Bhagavad-gītā 1.43 1973-07-30
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International.