तेषां कुपथदेष्टृणां पततां तमसि ह्यध: । ये श्रद्दध्युर्वचस्ते वै मज्जन्त्यश्मप्लवा इव ॥ १४ ॥
tesam kupatha-destrnam patatam tamasi hy adhah ye sraddadhyur vacas te vai majjanty asma-plava iva
- tesam
- of them (the misleaders)
- ku-patha-destrnam
- who show the path of danger
- patatam
- themselves falling
- tamasi
- in darkness
- hi
- indeed
- adhah
- down
- ye
- anyone who
- sraddadhyuh
- place faith in
- vacah
- the words
- te
- they
- vai
- indeed
- majjanti
- sink
- asma-plavah
- boats made of stone
- iva
- like.
Leaders who have fallen into ignorance and who mislead people by directing them to the path of destruction (as described in the previous verse) are, in effect, boarding a stone boat, and so too are those who blindly follow them. A stone boat would be unable to float and would sink in the water with its passengers. Similarly, those who mislead people go to hell, and their followers go with them.