srotavyadini rajendra nrnam santi sahasrasah
apasyatam atma-tattvam grhesu grha-medhinam
SYNONYMS
srotavya-adini--subject matters for hearing; rajendra--O Emperor;
nrnam--of human society; santi--there are; sahasrasah--hundreds and
thousands; apasyatam--of the blind; atma-tattvam--knowledge of self, the
ultimate truth; grhesu--at home; grha-medhinam--of persons too materially engrossed.
TRANSLATION
Those persons who are materially engrossed, being blind to the knowledge of ultimate truth, have many subject matters for hearing in human society, O Emperor.
PURPORT
In the revealed scriptures there are two nomenclatures for the householder's life. One is grhastha, and the other is grhamedhi. The grhasthas are those who live together with wife and children but live transcendentally for realizing the ultimate truth. The grhamedhis, however, are those who live only for the benefit of the family members, extended or centralized, and thus are envious of others. The word medhi indicates jealousy of others. The grhamedhis, being interested in family
affairs only, are certainly envious of others.
Therefore, one grhamedhi is not on good terms with another grhamedhi, and in the extended form,one community, society or nation is not on good terms with another counterpart of selfish interest. In the age of Kali, all the householders are jealous of one another because they are blind to the knowledge of ultimate truth.
They have many subject matters for hearing--political, scientific, social, economic and so on--but due to a poor fund of knowledge, they set aside the question of the ultimate miseries of life,namely miseries of birth, death, old age and disease. Factually, the human life is meant for making an ultimate solution to birth, death, old age and disease, but the grhamedhis, being illusioned by the material nature, forget everything about self-realization. The ultimate solution to the problems of life is to go back home, back to Godhead, and thus, as stated in the Bhagavad-gita (8.16), the miseries of material existence-- birth, death, old age and disease--are removed.
The process of going back home, back to Godhead, is to hear about the Supreme Lord and His name, form, attributes, pastimes, paraphernalia and variegatedness. Foolish people do not know this. They want to hear something about the name, form, etc., of everything temporary, and they do not know how to utilize this propensity of hearing for the ultimate good.
Misguided as they are, they also create some false literatures about the name, form, attributes, etc., of the ultimate truth. One should not, therefore, become a grhamedhi simply to exist for envying others; one should become a real householder in terms of the scriptural injunctions.