Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.10.13

unmatta-matta-jaḍavat sva-saḿsthāḿ

gatasya me vīra cikitsitena

arthaḥ kiyān bhavatā śikṣitena

stabdha-pramattasya ca piṣṭapeṣaḥ

SYNONYMS

unmatta — madness; matta — a drunkard; jaḍa-vat — like a dunce; sva-saḿsthām — situation in my original constitutional position; gatasya — of one who has obtained; me — of me; vīra — O King; cikitsitena — by your chastisement; arthaḥ — the meaning or purpose; kiyān — what; bhavatā — by you; śikṣitena — by being instructed; stabdha — dull; pramattasya — of a crazy man; ca — also; piṣṭa-peṣaḥ — like grinding flour.

TRANSLATION

My dear King, you have said, "You rascal, you dull, crazy fellow! I am going to chastise you, and then you will come to your senses." In this regard, let me say that although I live like a dull, deaf and dumb man, I am actually a self-realized person. What will you gain by punishing me? If your calculation is true and I am a madman, then your punishment will be like beating a dead horse. There will be no effect. When a madman is punished, he is not cured of his madness.

PURPORT

Everyone in this material world is working like a madman under certain impressions falsely acquired in the material condition. For example, a thief who knows that stealing is not good and who knows that it is followed with punishment by a king or by God, who has seen that thieves are arrested and punished by the police, nonetheless steals again and again. He is obsessed with the idea that by stealing he will be happy. This is a sign of madness. Despite repeated punishment, the thief cannot give up his stealing habit; therefore the punishment is useless.

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