TEXT 14
antahpura-striyo prcchad
vimana iva vedisat
api vah kusalam ramah
sesvarinam yatha pura
SYNONYMS
antah-purahousehold; striyahwomen; aprcchathe asked; vimanahbeing very much anxious; ivalike; vedisatO King Pracinabarhi; apiwhether; vahyour; kusalamgood fortune; ramahO you beautiful women; sa-isvarinamwith your mistress; yathaas; purabefore.
TRANSLATION
At that time King Puranjana was a little anxious, and he inquired from the household women: My dear beautiful women, are you and your mistress all very happy like before, or not?
PURPORT
In this verse the word vedisat indicates King Pracinabarhi. When a man becomes refreshed by association with devotees and awakes to Krsna consciousness, he consults the activities of his mindnamely thinking, feeling and willingand decides whether he should return to his material activities or stay steady in spiritual consciousness. The word kusalam refers to that which is auspicious. One can make his home perfectly auspicious when he engages in devotional service to Lord Visnu. When one is engaged in activities other than visnu-bhakti, or in other words when one is engaged in material activities, he is always filled with anxieties. A sane man should consult his mind, its thinking, feeling and willing processes, and decide how these processes should be utilized. If one always thinks of Krsna, feels how to serve Him and wills to execute the order of Krsna, it should be known that he has taken good instruction from his intelligence, which is called the mother. Although the King was refreshed, he nonetheless inquired about his wife. Thus he was consulting, thinking and willing how he could return to his steady good consciousness. The mind may suggest that by visaya-bhoga, or sense enjoyment, one can become happy, but when one becomes advanced in Krsna consciousness, he does not derive happiness from material activities. This is explained in Bhagavad-gita (2.59):
The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains. But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness. One cannot be unattached to the sense objects unless he finds better engagement in devotional service. param drstva nivartate. One can cease from material activities only when one actually engages in devotional service.

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