Canto 11: General HistoryChapter 7: Lord Kṛṣṇa Instructs Uddhava

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.7.50

guṇair guṇān upādatte

yathā-kālaḿ vimuñcati

na teṣu yujyate yogī

gobhir gā iva go-patiḥ

SYNONYMS

guṇaiḥ — by his senses; guṇān — material sense objects; upādatte — accepts; yathā-kālam — at the proper time; vimuñcati — gives them up; nahe does not; teṣuin them; yujyate — become entangled; yogīa self-realized sage; gobhiḥ — by his rays; gāḥ — bodies of water; ivaas; go-patiḥ — the sun.

TRANSLATION

Just as the sun evaporates large quantities of water by its potent rays and later returns the water to the earth in the form of rain, similarly, a saintly person accepts all types of material objects with his material senses, and at the appropriate time, when the proper person has approached him to request them, he returns such material objects. Thus, both in accepting and giving up the objects of the senses, he is not entangled.

PURPORT

A Kṛṣṇa conscious person never feels proprietorship over the opulences entrusted to him by Lord Kṛṣṇa for spreading the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. The devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa should not merely accumulate material wealth, but should distribute the opulences of Lord Kṛṣṇa in such a way that the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement spreads unlimitedly. This is a lesson to be learned from the sun.

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