Verse 2.9.236

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 2.9.236:

অহঙ্কার-দ্রোহ-মাত্র বিষযেতে আছে অধঃপাত-ফল তার না জানযে পাছে ॥ ২৩৬ ॥

अहङ्कार-द्रोह-मात्र विषयेते आछे अधःपात-फल तार ना जानये पाछे ॥ २३६ ॥

ahaṅkāra-droha-mātra viṣayete āche adhaḥpāta-phala tāra nā jānaye pāche || 236 ||

ahankara-droha-matra visayete ache adhahpata-phala tara na janaye pache (236)

English translation:

(236) One who is full of false pride and is envious of the goal of life falls down to an uncertain future.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

The only goal of every living entity is to serve the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Those who have a strong desire for material enjoyment that is not related with Kṛṣṇa come under the control of false pride and become envious of devotional service. People whose hearts are greedy for material enjoyment are ultimately degraded. That is why Ṭhākura Narottama has said that karma-kāṇḍa, by which one enjoys the fruits of his activities, and jñāna-kāṇḍa, by which one renounces the fruits of his activities, are both pots of poison. The lives of those who have a strong thirst for drinking those two pots of poison are sure to be ruined. People who are engaged in karma-kāṇḍa run after material objects with the desire to gratify their senses and thereby fall into the cycle of birth and death. They increase their aversion to the service of Kṛṣṇa by engaging in temporary sense gratification while remaining imprisoned within golden cages. This is the living entities’ degradation in the form of considering the body as the self.