Text:
अविद्यायामन्तरे वर्तमानाः स्वयं धीराः पण्डितं मन्यमानाः ।
दन्द्रम्यमाणाः परियन्ति मूढा अन्धेनैव नीयमाना यथान्धाः ॥ ५ ॥avidyāyāmantare vartamānāḥ svayaṃ dhīrāḥ paṇḍitaṃ manyamānāḥ |
dandramyamāṇāḥ pariyanti mūḍhā andhenaiva nīyamānā yathāndhāḥ || 5 ||5. Living in the middle of ignorance and regarding themselves as intelligent and learned, the ignorant go round and round, in many crooked ways, like the blind led by the blind.
Shankara’s Commentary:
But those men living in Samsara in the midst of ignorance as in thick darkness, entangled in a hundred meshes formed by attachment for sons, cattle and the rest, regarding themselves as intelligent and well-versed in the Sastras, go round and round, get into many crooked ways afflicted with miseries such as old age, death, disease, etc., devoid of discernment, just as the blind led by the blind in uneven paths come to great grief.