Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.9.15

gṛhārambho hi duḥkhāya

viphalaś cādhruvātmanaḥ

sarpaḥ para-kṛtaḿ veśma

praviśya sukham edhate

SYNONYMS

gṛha — of a home; ārambhaḥ — construction; hi — certainly; duḥkhāya — leads to unhappiness; viphalaḥ — fruitless; ca — also; adhruva — impermanent; ātmanaḥ — of the living being; sarpaḥ — a serpent; parakṛtam — built by others; veśma — home; praviśya — having entered; sukham — happily; edhate — prospers.

TRANSLATION

When a person living in a temporary material body tries to construct a happy home, the result is fruitless and miserable. The snake, however, enters a home that has been built by others and prospers happily.

PURPORT

The snake does not have the proclivity to build his own home, but rather lives in a suitable place constructed by other creatures. Thus he does not entangle himself in the labor of home building. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura points out that although materialistic persons take unlimited pains to invent and mass-produce electricity, automobiles, airplanes, etc., ultimately these things are meant for the convenience of the Vaiṣṇavas who are preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The karmīs will always go to such trouble, and the devotees will always offer such laborious productions to the Supreme Personality of Godhead by engaging them in His loving service. The devotees, being concerned with the ultimate perfection of life, do not personally struggle for material advancement. On the other hand, there is no need for the devotees to artificially imitate the austere life-style of ancient times. A devotee's goal is simply to serve Kṛṣṇa as nicely as possible; therefore the devotees willingly accept beautiful mansions and all types of material opulences, not with any personal attachment, but only so that these things can be engaged in the loving service of the Lord. If one engages such things with a desire to enjoy them, one falls down from the platform of pure devotional service. Materialistic persons are only interested in exploiting their so-called yoga practice in order to rejuvenate their sexual potency or to vainly remember their previous conditioned lives. Thus, applying mysticism to the endless search for sense gratification, they do not understand the actual goal of human life.

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