Text 5

The characteristics of misfortune are described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.9.7):

दैवेन ते हत-धियो भवतः प्रसङ्गात् सर्वाशुभोपशमनाद् विमुखेन्द्रिया ये
कुर्वन्ति काम-सुख-लेश-लवाय दीना लोभाभिभूत-मनसो’कुशलानि शश्वत्

daivena te hata-dhiyo bhavataḥ prasaṅgāt sarvāśubhopaśamanād vimukhendriyā ye
kurvanti kāma-sukha-leśa-lavāya dīnā lobhābhibhūta-manaso’kuśalāni śaśvat

Those persons who refrain from the hearing and chanting of Your glories, which destroys all misfortune, and instead always engage in inauspicious activities, being obsessed with a desire for a particle of material sense enjoyment, are certainly wretched, for fate has stolen away their intelligence.

तोमार प्रसङ्ग सर्व, अशुभ करये खर्व,
दुर्दैव प्रभावे मोर मन
काम-सुख-लेश आशे, लोभ अकुशलायासे,
से प्रसङ्गे ना कैल यतन

tomāra prasaṅga sarva, aśubha karaye kharva,
durdaiva prabhāve mora mana
kāma-sukha-leśa āśe, lobha akuśalāyāse,
se prasaṅge nā kaila yatana

Commentary: Bhajana-rahasya-vṛtti:

Glorifying the Supreme Lord, Brahmā says, “Those persons who are averse to hearing narrations about Śrī Bhagavān and bhakti, and who continuously perform inauspicious activities, being engrossed in worthless sense gratification, are unfortunate and bereft of good intelligence.” Prahlāda Mahārāja also says, “A living entity who is attached to his home because of his undisciplined senses enters the deepest of hells. The intelligence of one who again and again chews the happiness and distress that has already been chewed can never become pure.” One who is absorbed in karma-kāṇḍa by following the honey-filled statements of the Vedas will be bound by the long rope of the Vedas. The only means for the lustful living entities to become liberated is to immerse themselves in the dust of the lotus feet of a great niṣkiñcana, paramahaṃsa Vaiṣṇava.