Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 8.8.38

mithah kalir abhut tesham

tad-arthe tarsha-cetasam

aham purvam aham purvam

na tvam na tvam iti prabho

SYNONYMS

mithah -- among themselves; kalih -- disagreement and quarrel; abhut -- there was; tesham -- of all of them; tat-arthe -- for the sake of nectar; tarsha-cetasam -- bewildered in heart and soul by the illusory energy of Vishnu; aham -- I; purvam -- first; aham -- I; purvam -- first; na -- not; tvam -- you; na -- not; tvam -- you; iti -- thus; prabho -- O King.

TRANSLATION

O King, a quarrel then arose among the demons over who would get the nectar first. Each of them said, "You cannot drink it first. I must drink it first. Me first, not you!"

PURPORT

This is the symptom of demons. The first concern of a nondevotee is how to enjoy his personal sense gratification at once, whereas the devotee's first concern is to satisfy the Lord. This is the distinction between the nondevotee and the devotee. In this material world, since most people are nondevotees, they regularly compete, fight, disagree and war among themselves, for everyone wants to enjoy and satisfy his own senses. Therefore, unless such demons become Krishna conscious and are trained to satisfy the senses of the Lord, there can be no question of peace in human society or any society, even that of the demigods. The demigods and devotees, however, always surrender to the lotus feet of the Lord, and thus the Lord is always anxious to satisfy their ambitions. While the demons fight to satisfy their own senses, devotees engage in devotional service to satisfy the senses of the Lord. The members of the Krishna consciousness movement must be alert in regard to this point, and then their preaching of the Krishna consciousness movement will be successful.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness