TEXT 41
bhaumam divyam manusam ca
mahitvam karma-yogajam
yas cakre nirayaupamyam
purusanujana-priyah
SYNONYMS
bhaumamof the lower planets; divyamheavenly; manusamof human beings; caalso; mahitvamall opulences; karmaby fruitive activities; yogaby mystic power; jamborn; yahone who; cakredid; nirayawith hell; aupamyamcomparison or equality; purusaof the Supreme Personality of Godhead; anujanato the devotee; priyahmost dear.
TRANSLATION
As a great follower and devotee of the sage Narada, Maharaja Priyavrata considered hellish the opulences he had achieved by dint of fruitive activities and mystic power, whether in the lower or heavenly planetary systems or in human society.
PURPORT
Srila Rupa Gosvami has said that the position of a devotee is so superexcellent that a devotee does not consider any material opulence worth having. There are different types of opulences on earth, in the heavenly planets and even in the lower planetary system, known as Patala. A devotee, however, knows that they are all material, and consequently he is not at all interested in them. As stated in Bhagavad-gita, param drstva nivartate. Sometimes yogis and jnanis voluntarily give up all material opulences to practice their system of liberation and taste spiritual bliss. However, they frequently fall down because artificial renunciation of material opulences cannot endure. One must have a superior taste in spiritual life; then he can give up material opulence. Maharaja Priyavrata had already tasted spiritual bliss, and therefore he had no interest in any of the material achievements available in the lower, higher or middle planetary systems.
Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports to the Fifth Canto, First Chapter, of Srimad-Bhagavatam, entitled The Activities of Maharaja Priyavrata.
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