Copyright © r The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
| Canto 7: The Science of God | Chapter 13: The Behavior of a Perfect Person |
Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 7.13.32
lubdhānām ajitātmanām
sarvato 'bhiviśańkinām
SYNONYMS
paśyāmi — I can practically see; dhaninām — of persons who are very rich; kleśam — the miseries; lubdhānām — who are extremely greedy; ajita-ātmanām — who are victims of their senses; bhayāt — because of fear; alabdha-nidrānām — who are suffering from insomnia; sarvatah — from all sides; abhiviśańkinām — being particularly afraid.
TRANSLATION
The brāhmana continued: I am actually seeing how a rich man, who is a victim of his senses, is very greedy to accumulate wealth, and therefore suffers from insomnia due to fear from all sides, despite his wealth and opulence.
PURPORT
Greedy capitalists accumulate wealth under so many miserable conditions, the result being that because they collect money by questionable means, their minds are always agitated. Thus they are unable to sleep at night, and they have to take pills for mental tranquillity to invite sleep. And sometimes even the pills are a failure. Consequently the result of having accumulated money by so much labor is certainly not happiness, but only distress. What is the value of acquiring a comfortable position if one's mind is always disturbed? Narottama dāsa Thākura has therefore sung:
samsāra-bishānale, dibāniśi hiyā jvale,
"I am suffering from the poisonous effect of material enjoyment. Thus my heart is always burning and is almost on the verge of failure." The result of the greedy capitalist's unnecessary accumulation of wealth is that he must suffer from a blazing fire of anxiety and always be concerned with how to save his money and invest it properly to get more and more. Such a life is certainly not very happy, but because of the spell of the illusory energy, materialistic persons engage in such activities.
As far as our Krishna consciousness movement is concerned, we are getting money naturally, by the grace of God, by selling our literature. This literature is not sold for our sense gratification; to spread the Krishna consciousness movement we need so many things, and Krishna is therefore supplying us the requisite money to advance this mission. The mission of Krishna is to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world, and for this purpose we naturally must have sufficient money. Therefore, according to the advice of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhupāda, we should not give up attachment to money that can spread the Krishna consciousness movement. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says in his Bhakti-rasāmrita-sindhu (1.2.256):
prāpańcikatayā buddhyā
mumukshubhih parityāgo
"When persons eager to achieve liberation renounce things which are related to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, though they are material, this is called incomplete renunciation." Money that can help in spreading the Krishna consciousness movement is not a part of the material world, and we should not give it up, thinking that it is material. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī advises:
anāsaktasya vishayān
yathārham upayuńjatah
"When one is not attached to anything, but at the same time accepts everything in relation to Krishna, one is rightly situated above possessiveness." (Bhakti-rasāmrita-sindhu 1.2.255) Money is undoubtedly coming in great quantities, but we should not be attached to this money for sense gratification; every cent should be spent for spreading the Krishna consciousness movement, not for sense gratification. There is danger for a preacher when he receives great quantities of money, for as soon as he spends even a single cent of the collection for his personal sense gratification, he becomes a fallen victim. The preachers of the Krishna consciousness movement should be extremely careful not to misuse the immense quantities of money needed to spread this movement. Let us not make this money the cause of our distress; it should be used for Krishna, and that will cause our eternal happiness. Money is Lakshmī, or the goddess of fortune, the companion of Nārāyana. Lakshmījī must always remain with Nārāyana, and then there need be no fear of degradation.
Copyright © r The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness