ब्रह्मन् नु हार्थो यत एव भोगः ।
अभोगिनोऽयं तव विप्र देहः
पीवा यतस्तद्वद नः क्षमं चेत् ॥१८॥
na te Å›ayÄnasya nirudyamasya
brahman nu hÄrtho yata eva bhogaḥ
abhogino 'yaṠtava vipra dehaḥ
pÄ«vÄ yatas tad vada naḥ ká¹£amaá¹ cet
na - not; te - of you; Å›ayÄnasya - lying down; nirudyamasya - without activities; brahman - O saintly person; nu - indeed; ha - it is evident; arthaḥ - money; yataḥ - from which; eva - indeed; bhogaḥ - sense enjoyment; abhoginaḥ - of one who is not engaged in sense enjoyment; ayam - this; tava - your; vipra - O learned brÄhmaṇa; dehaḥ - body; pÄ«vÄ - fat; yataḥ - how is it; tat - that fact; vada - kindly tell; naḥ - us; ká¹£amam - excuse; cet - if I have asked an impudent question.
O brÄhmaṇa, fully in knowledge of transcendence, you have nothing to do, and therefore you are lying down. It is also understood that you have no money for sense enjoyment. How then has your body become so fat? Under the circumstances, if you do not consider my question impudent, kindly explain how this has happened.
Generally those engaged in spiritual advancement take food only once, either in the afternoon or in the evening. If one takes food only once, naturally he does not become fat. The learned sage, however, was quite fat, and therefore PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja was very much surprised. Because of being experienced in self-realization, a transcendentalist certainly becomes bright-faced. And one who is advanced in self-realization must be considered to possess the body of a brÄhmaṇa. Because the bright-faced saintly person was lying down and not working and yet was quite fat, PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja was puzzled and wanted to question him about this.
