Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.8.4

mahad-vicalanam nrinām

grihinām dīna-cetasām

nihśreyasāya bhagavan

kalpate nānyathā kvacit

SYNONYMS

mahat-vicalanam — the movement of great personalities; nrinām — in the houses of ordinary persons; grihinām — especially householders; dīna-cetasām — who are very simple-minded, being engaged in family maintenance and nothing more; nihśreyasāya — a great personality has no reason to go to the grihastha but to benefit him; bhagavan — O most powerful devotee; kalpate — is to be taken that way; na anyathā — not for any other purpose; kvacit — at any time.

TRANSLATION

O my lord, O great devotee, persons like you move from one place to another not for their own interests but for the sake of poor-hearted grihasthas [householders]. Otherwise they have no interest in going from one place to another.

PURPORT

As factually stated by Nanda Mahārāja, Gargamuni, being a devotee, had no needs. Similarly, when Krishna comes He has no needs, for He is pūrna, ātmārāma. Nonetheless, He descends to this material world to protect the devotees and vanquish miscreants (paritrānāya sādhūnām vināśāya ca dushkritām [Bg. 4.8]). This is the mission of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and devotees also have the same mission. One who executes this mission of para-upakāra, performing welfare activities for people in general, is recognized by Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as being very, very dear to Him (na ca tasmān manushyeshu kaścin me priya-krittamah [Bg. 18.69]). Similarly, Caitanya Mahāprabhu has advised this para-upakāra, and He has especially advised the inhabitants of India:

bhārata-bhūmite haila manushya-janma yāra

janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra

"One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India [Bhārata-varsha] should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people." (Cc. Ādi 9.41) On the whole, the duty of a pure Vaishnava devotee is to act for the welfare of others.

Nanda Mahārāja could understand that Gargamuni had come for this purpose and that his own duty now was to act according to Gargamuni's advice. Thus he said, "Please tell me what is my duty." This should be the attitude of everyone, especially the householder. The varnāśrama society is organized into eight divisions: brāhmana, kshatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, brahmacarya, grihastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa. Nanda Mahārāja represented himself as grihinām, a householder. A brahmacārī factually has no needs, but grihī, householders, are engaged in sense gratification. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (2.44), bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānām tayāpahrita-cetasām. Everyone has come to this material world for sense gratification, and the position of those who are too attached to sense gratification and who therefore accept the grihastha-āśrama is very precarious. Since everyone in this material world is searching for sense gratification, grihasthas are required to be trained as mahat, great mahātmās. Therefore Nanda Mahārāja specifically used the word mahad-vicalanam. Gargamuni had no interest to serve by going to Nanda Mahārāja, but Nanda Mahārāja, as a grihastha, was always perfectly ready to receive instructions from a mahātmā to gain the real benefit in life. Thus he was ready to execute Gargamuni's order.

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