TEXT 27
ity etat punyam akhyanam
ambarisasya bhupate
sankirtayann anudhyayan
bhakto bhagavato bhavet
SYNONYMS
itithus; etatthis; punyam akhyanammost pious activity in history; ambarisasyaof Maharaja Ambarisa; bhupateO King (Maharaja Pariksit); sankirtayanby chanting, repeating; anudhyayanor by meditating upon; bhaktaha devotee; bhagavatahof the Supreme Personality of Godhead; bhavetone can become.
TRANSLATION
Anyone who chants this narration or even thinks of this narration about the activities of Maharaja Ambarisa certainly becomes a pure devotee of the Lord.
PURPORT
Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura herein gives a very good example. When one is very eager for more and more money, he is not satisfied even when he is a millionaire or a multimillionaire, but wants to earn more and more money by any means. The same mentality is present in a devotee. The devotee is never satisfied, thinking, This is the limit of my devotional service. The more he engages in the service of the Lord, the more service he wants to give. This is the position of a devotee. Maharaja Ambarisa, in his family life, was certainly a pure devotee, complete in every respect, because his mind and all his senses were engaged in devotional service (sa vai manah krsna-padaravindayor vacamsi vaikuntha-gunanuvarnane). Maharaja Ambarisa was self-satisfied because all of his senses were engaged in devotional service (sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam/ hrsikena hrsikesa-sevanam bhaktir ucyate [Cc. Madhya 19.170]). Nonetheless, although Maharaja Ambarisa had engaged all his senses in devotional service, he left his home and went to the forest to concentrate his mind fully at the lotus feet of Krsna, exactly as a mercantile man, even though complete in wealth, tries to earn more and more. This mentality of getting more and more engaged in devotional service puts one in the most exalted position. Whereas on the karma platform the mercantile man who wants more and more money becomes increasingly bound and entangled, the devotee becomes increasingly liberated.

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