SB 2.1.2

श्रोतव्यादीनि राजेन्द्र नृणां सन्ति सहस्रशः ।
अपश्यतामात्मतत्त्वं गृहेषु गृहमेधिनाम् ॥२॥

śrotavyādīni rājendra
nṛṇāṁ santi sahasraśaḥ
apaśyatām ātma-tattvaṁ
gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām

śrotavyaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigśrotavya

and to be heard.-ādīniplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigādīni

and others; and so on; beginning with; from the very beginning.—subject matters for hearing; rājendraplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigrājendra

O Emperor; O King; O King Parīkṣit.—O Emperor; nṛṇāmplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bignrnam

by human beings; by the human being; by the human beings; for human beings; for human society; for the human race; in human society; men; of all human beings; of all living entities; of all men; of human beings; of human calculation; of human society; of humanity at large; of humankind; of men; of ordinary men; of persons; of the human being; of the human beings; of the people; of the people in general; persons; the bodies of human beings; to human society.—of human society; santiplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigsanti

are; are possible; are there; become; can become; exist; exists; may be; there are; there is; what there is in stock.—there are; sahasraśaḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigsahasraśaḥ

by hundreds and thousands of times; by the thousands; by thousands; by thousands and thousands; by thousands upon thousands; hundreds and thousands; in thousands; many thousands and millions; thousands; thousands of.—hundreds and thousands; apaśyatāmplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigapaśyatām

of the blind; of those not seeing.—of the blind; ātmaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigatma

and of the soul; and of the Supersoul (Paramātmā); and the mind; body; by a manifestation of Yourself; by the body and mind; by the Supreme Personality of Godhead; by themselves; by Yourself; heart; Himself; his; in Himself; in the body; in the living entities; into the self; living being; mind; of all living entities; of Himself; of one's self; of spiritual knowledge; of the mind; of the mind and senses; of the soul; of the Supreme; one's own; own; personal; self; self-realized; soul; spirit; Supersoul; the body and mind; the devotees are the Lord's heart and soul; the mind; the mind and body; the self; the spirit; the Supersoul; the Supreme Personality of Godhead; the Supreme Self; the tree of work; to the body; upon the Supersoul; within; Yourself; ātmā.-tattvamplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigtattvam

absolute position; its original condition; material truth; principle; principle, truth; specific truth; sum total; the Absolute Truth; the symptoms; the truth; the ultimate goal; truth; ultimate truth.—knowledge of self, the ultimate truth; gṛheṣuplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_biggṛheṣu

(who arrived) in his house; at home; in family life; in home life; in household affairs; in household life; in householder life; in houses (or bodies); in the family affairs; in the home; in the homes; in the house; in the house and rooms; in the houses; to family affairs; to family life; to household life; to the home.—at home; gṛhaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_biggṛha

by home; home; home, community, society and nation; house; in the material home; room; the home; the homes; the house; the household; to your home.-medhināmplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigmedhinām

although situated with a wife and children; of persons too materially engrossed; of the householders; of the materialistic householders; who are interested in householder life.—of persons too materially engrossed. ¶

Those persons who are materially engrossed, being blind to the knowledge of ultimate truth, have many subject matters for hearing in human society, O Emperor. ¶

In the revealed scriptures there are two nomenclatures for the householder’s life. One is gṛhastha, and the other is gṛhamedhī. The gṛhasthas are those who live together with wife and children but live transcendentally for realizing the ultimate truth. The gṛhamedhīs, however, are those who live only for the benefit of the family members, extended or centralized, and thus are envious of others. The word medhī indicates jealousy of others. The gṛhamedhīs, being interested in family affairs only, are certainly envious of others. Therefore, one gṛhamedhī is not on good terms with another gṛhamedhī, and in the extended form, one community, society or nation is not on good terms with another counterpart of selfish interest. In the age of Kali, all the householders are jealous of one another because they are blind to the knowledge of ultimate truth. They have many subject matters for hearing—political, scientific, social, economic and so on—but due to a poor fund of knowledge, they set aside the question of the ultimate miseries of life, namely miseries of birth, death, old age and disease. Factually, the human life is meant for making an ultimate solution to birth, death, old age and disease, but the gṛhamedhīs, being illusioned by the material nature, forget everything about self-realization. The ultimate solution to the problems of life is to go back home, back to Godhead, and thus, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (Bg. 8.16)plugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigBhagavad-gītā As It Is 8.16

From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kuntī, never takes birth again., the miseries of material existence—birth, death, old age and disease—are removed. ¶

The process of going back home, back to Godhead, is to hear about the Supreme Lord and His name, form, attributes, pastimes, paraphernalia and variegatedness. Foolish people do not know this. They want to hear something about the name, form, etc., of everything temporary, and they do not know how to utilize this propensity of hearing for the ultimate good. Misguided as they are, they also create some false literatures about the name, form, attributes, etc., of the ultimate truth. One should not, therefore, become a gṛhamedhī simply to exist for envying others; one should become a real householder in terms of the scriptural injunctions. ¶