Text 45
śrī-mucukunda uvāca
vimohito ’yaṁ jana īśa māyayā
tvadīyayā tvāṁ na bhajaty anartha-dṛk
sukhāya duḥkha-prabhaveṣu sajjate
gṛheṣu yoṣit puruṣaś ca vañcitaḥ
śrī-mucukundaḥ uvāca — Śrī Mucukunda said; vimohitaḥ — bewildered; ayam — this; janaḥ — person; īśa — O Lord; māyayā — by the illusory energy; tvadīyayā — Your own; tvām — You; na bhajati — does not worship; anartha-dṛk — not seeing one’s real benefit; sukhāya — for the sake of happiness; duḥkha — misery; prabhaveṣu — in things that cause; sajjate — becomes entangled; gṛheṣu — in affairs of family life; yoṣit — woman; puruṣaḥ — man; ca — and; vañcitaḥ — cheated.
Śrī Mucukunda said: O Lord, the people of this world, both men and women, are bewildered by Your illusory energy. Unaware of their real benefit, they do not worship You but instead seek happiness by entangling themselves in family affairs, which are actually sources of misery.
Mucukunda immediately makes it clear that he is not going to ask the Lord for material blessings. He has advanced, spiritually, far beyond those who try to exploit religion for all kinds of material benefits. Artha means “value,” and the negation of this word, anartha, means “that which is valueless or useless.” Thus the term anartha-dṛk indicates those whose vision is focused on valueless things, who have not understood what actual artha, or value, is. All that glitters is not gold, and Mucukunda here emphatically states that we should not ruin our spiritual chances by entangling ourselves in the fool’s gold of bodily relationships. We are meant to love the Lord.