Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.49.22

adharmopacitaḿ vittaḿ

haranty anye 'lpa-medhasaḥ

sambhojanīyāpadeśair

jalānīva jalaukasaḥ

SYNONYMS

adharma — by irreligious means; upacitam — gathered; vittam — wealth; haranti — steal; anye — other persons; alpa-medhasaḥ — of one who is unintelligent; sambhojanīya — as requiring support; apadeśaiḥ — by the false designations; jalāni — water; iva — as; jala-okasaḥ — of a resident of the water.

TRANSLATION

In the guise of dear dependents, strangers steal the sinfully acquired wealth of a foolish man, just as the offspring of a fish drink up the water that sustains the fish.

PURPORT

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."

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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