FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.24.19

ఆజీవ్యైకతరం భావం యస్త్వన్యముపజీవతి । న తస్మాద్ విన్దతే క్షేమం జారాన్ నార్యసతీ యథా ॥ ౧౯ ॥
ājīvyaikataraṁ bhāvaṁ
[aajeevyaikataram bhaavam]
yas tv anyam upajīvati
[yas tv anyam upajeevati]
na tasmād vindate kṣemaṁ
[na tasmaad vindate kshemam]
jārān nāry asatī yathā
[jaaraan naary asatee yathaa]
ājīvya — sustaining his life ekataram — one bhāvam — entity yaḥ — who tu — but anyam — another upajīvati — resorts to na — not tasmāt — from that one vindate — gains kṣemam — real benefit jārāt — from a paramour nārī — a woman asatī — who is unchaste yathā — as .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
ājīvyaikataraṁ bhāvaṁ
ājīvya
sustaining his life
yas tv anyam upajīvati
na tasmād vindate kṣemaṁ
ekataram
one
bhāvam
entity
jārān nāry asatī yathā
yaḥ
who
tu
but
anyam
another
upajīvati
resorts to
na
not
tasmāt
from that one
vindate
gains
kṣemam
real benefit
jārāt
from a paramour
nārī
a woman
asatī
who is unchaste
yathā
as .
  • ājīvya — the means of livelihood
    From ā + √jīv — that by which one lives. The verse names the criterion bluntly: locate what feeds you, then offer to it. The gopas live by cows and hill; therefore cows and hill (and Kṛṣṇa within them) are the proper recipients.
  • upajīvati — takes shelter of
    From upa + √jīv — to subsist near, to depend upon. Kṛṣṇa distinguishes two verbs: ājīvya (what actually sustains) and upajīvati (what one chooses to attach oneself to). The two should match; in indra-yāga they do not.
  • kṣemam — auspiciousness, well-being
    From √kṣi — settled welfare. Gītā 9.22 yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham: Bhagavān Himself carries the kṣema of His devotee. By sending its kṣema-petition to Indra, Vraja is sending the request to the wrong return-address.
  • jārāt — from a paramour
    Ablative of jāra — illicit lover. Strong word. Kṛṣṇa, who will later be the supreme parakīya-nāyaka in mādhurya-rasa, here uses jāra negatively to characterize misplaced shelter. The same word holds opposite valences in different rasas — a Gauḍīya teaching in miniature.
  • asatī — unfaithful
    Feminine of asat — 'not-sat,' not true, not chaste. The asatī woman is the very type of misplaced loyalty. Gauḍīya force: bhakti is faithfulness to the actual sustainer; karma-kāṇḍa addressed to demigods imitates the asatī's pattern.
If one thing is actually sustaining our life but we take shelter of something else, how can we achieve any real benefit? We would be like an unfaithful woman, who can never achieve any actual benefit by consorting with her paramour.

The word kṣemam means actual prosperity, not merely the accumulation of money. Here Lord Kṛṣṇa boldly argues that just as a woman can never achieve actual dignity or enlightenment from an illicit lover, the residents of Vṛndāvana will never be happy by neglecting the real source of their prosperity and worshiping Indra instead. According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, the audacity that child Kṛṣṇa displayed before His father and other elders should be understood as an exhibition of transcendental anger aroused when He saw His eternal devotees worshiping an insignificant demigod.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
If one thing is actually sustaining our life but we take shelter of something else, how can we achieve any real benefit? We would be like an unfaithful woman, who can never achieve any actual benefit by consorting with her paramour.
Commentary

In this verse he speaks of the effects of not doing as he advises.

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

If we sustain our life by one means, but try to subsist by another means we gain no benefit. We are like an unchaste woman trying to derive happiness from a paramour. Instead of jārāt sometimes jāram is seen. But the meaning is the same. Speaking in this manner to his father and others is audacious, produced by anger at their inferior worship.

Śrīdhara Svāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

If we sustain our life by one means, but try to subsist by another means for enjoyment, because of that or from that other method (tasmāt), we gain no happiness or auspiciousness. Therefore we should worship the cows because they support our lives and we should worship Govardhana because it supports the cows. Thus worshipping Indra is rejected (verse 8). After that it was said that the clouds give rain. That conclusion is also rejected since it is related to worship of Indra.

Related values
Anahankarah (Freedom from False Ego)Kshama (Forgiveness / Patience)Brahmacharya (Self-discipline / Restraint)Atma Nigraha (Self-control)
Related verses

A wife sets her plate at her husband's table and then sneaks out to dine with a stranger — she eats, but the meal builds nothing. Vraja is being sustained by the cows, the hill, and Kṛṣṇa Himself, and is sending its rice elsewhere; the analogy is severe and Kṛṣṇa chooses it deliberately, because exposing the misalignment is the kindness of this teaching.

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