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ŚB 12.3.35

Devanagari

पणयिष्यन्ति वै क्षुद्रा: किराटा: कूटकारिण: ।
अनापद्यपि मंस्यन्ते वार्तां साधु जुगुप्सिताम् ॥ ३५ ॥

Text

paṇayiṣyanti vai kṣudrāḥ
kirāṭāḥ kūṭa-kāriṇaḥ
anāpady api maṁsyante
vārtāṁ sādhu jugupsitām

Synonyms

paṇayiṣyanti — will engage in commerce; vai — indeed; kṣudrāḥ — petty; kirāṭāḥ — the merchants; kūṭa-kāriṇaḥ — indulging in cheating; anāpadi — when there is no emergency; api — even; maṁsyante — people will consider; vārtām — an occupation; sādhu — good; jugupsitām — which is actually contemptible.

Translation

Businessmen will engage in petty commerce and earn their money by cheating. Even when there is no emergency, people will consider any degraded occupation quite acceptable.

Purport

Although other occupations are available, people do not hesitate to work in coal mines, slaughterhouses, steel mills, deserts, floating oil rigs, submarines and other equally abominable situations. As also mentioned here, businessmen will consider cheating and lying to be a perfectly respectable way to do business. These are all symptoms of the Age of Kali.