Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.8.28

vikalpe vidyamāne 'pi

na hy asantoṣa-hetavaḥ

puḿso moham ṛte bhinnā

yal loke nija-karmabhiḥ

SYNONYMS

vikalpe — alternation; vidyamāne api — although there is; na — not; hi — certainly; asantoṣa — dissatisfaction; hetavaḥ — causes; puḿsaḥ — of the persons; moham ṛte — without being illusioned; bhinnāḥ — separated; yat loke — within this world; nija-karmabhiḥ — by his own work.

TRANSLATION

My dear Dhruva, if you feel that your sense of honor has been insulted, you still have no cause for dissatisfaction. This kind of dissatisfaction is another feature of the illusory energy; every living entity is controlled by his previous actions, and therefore there are different varieties of life for enjoying or suffering.

PURPORT

In the Vedas it is said that the living entity is always uncontaminated and unaffected by material association. The living entity gets different types of material bodies because of his previous fruitive actions. If, however, one understands the philosophy that as a living spirit soul he has an affinity for neither suffering nor enjoyment, then he is considered to be a liberated person. It is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (18.54), brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā: when one is actually situated on the transcendental platform, he has nothing for which to lament and nothing for which to hanker. Nārada Ṛṣi first of all wanted to impress upon Dhruva Mahārāja that he was only a child; he should not have been affected by words of insult or honor. And if he were so developed as to understand honor and insult, then this understanding should have been applied in his own life; he should have known that honor and dishonor are both destined only by one's previous actions; therefore one should not be sorry or happy under any circumstances.

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