Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 3 - Chapter 1 - Verse 6


Sanskrit:

श्रीशुक उवाचयदा तु राजा स्वसुतानसाधून्पुष्णन्नधर्मेण विनष्टद‍ृष्टि: ।भ्रातुर्यविष्ठस्य सुतान् विबन्धून्प्रवेश्य लाक्षाभवने ददाह ॥ ६ ॥

ITRANS:

śrī-śuka uvācayadā tu rājā sva-sutān asādhūnpuṣṇan na dharmeṇa vinaṣṭa-dṛṣṭiḥbhrātur yaviṣṭhasya sutān vibandhūnpraveśya lākṣā-bhavane dadāha

Translation:

Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: King Dhṛtarāṣṭra became blind under the influence of impious desires to nourish his dishonest sons, and thus he set fire to the lacquer house to burn his fatherless nephews, the Pāṇḍavas.

Purport:

Dhṛtarāṣṭra was blind from birth, but his blindness in committing impious activities to support his dishonest sons was a greater blindness than his physical lack of eyesight. The physical lack of sight does not bar one from spiritual progress. But when one is blind spiritually, even though physically fit, that blindness is dangerously detrimental to the progressive path of human life.