Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.49.22
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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adharma-upacitam
—
gathered by irreligious means
Upa-√ci — to heap up, accumulate. The Bhāgavata uses this verb for sinful accumulation specifically; the wealth grows not naturally but by repeated unrighteous act.
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alpa-medhasaḥ
—
of one of small intelligence
Alpa (little) + medhas (intellect, sacrificial fire). Compound that puns: the man's intelligence is small because his sacrificial fire is small — he has invested in adharma not yajña.
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sambhojanīya-apadeśaiḥ
—
by the false designations of being supportable
Compound: sambhojanīya (those who must be fed) + apadeśa (pretext). The 'dependents' for whose sake the sinful wealth was gathered are themselves often the thieves. A devastating diagnosis of householder delusion.
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jala-okasaḥ
—
of a resident of the water
Jala (water) + okas (dweller). The fish whose own offspring drink the water that holds her — Vyāsa's compressed icon for parasitic family.
Ordinary people feel they cannot live without their wealth, although their possession of it is circumstantial and temporary. Just as wealth gives life to an ordinary man, water gives life to a fish. One’s dear dependents, however, steal one’s wealth, just as a fish’s offspring drink up the water sustaining the fish. In the words of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, this world is “a weird abode.”
"When a son living with his father steals his hard earned money, he should be known as an enemy with the name of a son. They steal the wealth of the foolish father using the pretext that it is the fathers duty to support them (sambhojaniyah), just as numerous offspring of the fish end up contaminating the very water, which gives life to the fish."
Others such as sons stead the wealth one has personally earned with labor by forbidden actions or not following one’s svadharma because though one knows they are stealing, one has no ability to decide what to do. In a temporary body of water the small fish by making the water dirty and foul smelling and smaller in quantity because of the over-crowding. Thus the big fish dies first.
- Where are you bankrolling someone whose interest in you is purely consumptive?
- How does this verse caution about whom you sacrifice for?
Sinful wealth is like the water around the unwary fish — it looks like home and turns out to be the very medium through which others will drain him dry. Akrūra paints the Mahābhārata's coming theft in a single aquatic image.
My note
Source: vedabase.io