न ते विदु: स्वार्थगतिं हि विष्णुं दुराशया ये बहिरर्थमानिन: । अन्धा यथान्धैरुपनीयमाना- स्तेऽपीशतन्त्र्यामुरुदाम्नि बद्धा: ॥ ३१ ॥
na te viduh svartha-gatim hi visnum durasaya ye bahir-artha-maninah andha yathandhair upaniyamanas te ’pisa-tantryam uru-damni baddhah
- na
- not
- te
- they
- viduh
- know
- sva-artha-gatim
- the ultimate goal of life, or their own real interest
- hi
- indeed
- visnum
- Lord Visnu and His abode
- durasayah
- being ambitious to enjoy this material world
- ye
- who
- bahih
- external sense objects
- artha-maninah
- considering as valuable
- andhah
- persons who are blind
- yatha
- just as
- andhaih
- by other blind men
- upaniyamanah
- being led
- te
- they
- api
- although
- isa-tantryam
- to the ropes (laws) of material nature
- uru
- having very strong
- damni
- cords
- baddhah
- bound
Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Visnu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.