SB 5.18.10 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

मागारदारात्मजवित्तबन्धुषु सङ्गो यदि स्याद्भ‍गवत्प्रियेषु न: । य: प्राणवृत्त्या परितुष्ट आत्मवान् सिद्ध्यत्यदूरान्न तथेन्द्रियप्रिय: ॥ १० ॥

Verse text

māgāra-dārātmaja-vitta-bandhuṣu saṅgo yadi syād bhagavat-priyeṣu naḥ yaḥ prāṇa-vṛttyā parituṣṭa ātmavān siddhyaty adūrān na tathendriya-priyaḥ

Synonyms

mā — not ; agāra — house ; dāra — wife ; ātma — ja — children ; vitta — bank balance ; bandhuṣu — among friends and relatives ; saṅgaḥ — association or attachment ; yadi — if ; syāt — there must be ; bhagavat — priyeṣu — among persons to whom the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very dear ; naḥ — of us ; yaḥ — anyone who ; prāṇa — vṛttyā — by the bare necessities of life ; parituṣṭaḥ — satisfied ; ātma — vān — who has controlled his mind and realized his self ; siddhyati — becomes successful ; adūrāt — very soon ; na — not ; tathā — so much ; indriya — priyaḥ — a person attached to sense gratification .

Translation

My dear Lord, we pray that we may never feel attraction for the prison of family life, consisting of home, wife, children, friends, bank balance, relatives and so on. If we do have some attachment, let it be for devotees, whose only dear friend is Kṛṣṇa. A person who is actually self-realized and who has controlled his mind is perfectly satisfied with the bare necessities of life. He does not try to gratify his senses. Such a person quickly advances in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whereas others, who are too attached to material things, find advancement very difficult.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

If we have attachment for devotees of the Lord, let attachment to house, wife, children or wealth not take place. Fully determined, he who is satisfied with living by begged food reaches perfection. One who satisfies his senses reaches perfection slowly. For a person attached to the Lord, association with devotees is favorable and bad association is an obstacle. However, by the strength of good association, bad association will on its own disappear. If we have association of devotees, attachment to house, wife, children and wealth should not arise. This means that gradually attachment to these things will be destroyed. “Without house and wealth, without enjoyment, the body will suffer. How can one survive?” One is satisfied with filling the stomach by some begged food (prāṇa-vṛttyā), because he is fully determined (ātmavān). One who satisfies his senses reaches perfection slowly. Or, if one has association with devotees, one should not have attachment to house and wife, because if both types of association coexist, one cannot attain the Lord quickly. One who is controlled, satisfied with begged food, reaches perfection. Or, let us not have attachment to house and wife! If there is association with devotees, even when association is absent, by perfection of bhakti, knowledge produced by bad association becomes powerless. “Then let us give up bad association. Let us pray only for good association.” True, association with devotees devoid of bad association quickly brings results. One who is satisfied with begged food and who has attained association with devotees reaches perfection. One should not explain the verse to mean “If there is association, let it not be bad association, but association with devotees.” This suggests that no association is preferable to good association. Thus the philosophy of bhakti becomes nullified. This will be contrary to the meaning of the next verse. It will also be contrary to verses like the following: tulayāma lavenāpi na svargaṁ nāpunar-bhavam | bhagavat-saṅgi-saṅgasya martyānāṁ kim utāśiṣaḥ || Let us not compare even a particle of association with devotees to Svarga or liberation, what to speak of any blessings in this world. (SB 1.18.13)

Purport

When Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu was requested to explain the duty of a Vaiṣṇava, a Kṛṣṇa conscious person, He immediately said, asat-saṅga-tyāga-ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra. The first business of a Vaiṣṇava is to give up the association of persons who are not devotees of Kṛṣṇa and who are too attached to material things — wife, children, bank balance and so on. Prahlāda Mahārāja also prays to the Personality of Godhead that he may avoid the association of nondevotees attached to the materialistic way of life. If he must be attached to someone, he prays to be attached only to a devotee. A devotee is not interested in unnecessarily increasing the demands of the senses for gratification. Of course, as long as one is in this material world, one must have a material body, and it must be maintained for executing devotional service. The body can be maintained very easily by eating kṛṣṇa-prasāda. As Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā (9.26) : patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ “If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.” Why should the menu be unnecessarily increased for the satisfaction of the tongue? Devotees should eat as simply as possible. Otherwise, attachment for material things will gradually increase, and the senses, being very strong, will soon require more and more material enjoyment. Then the real business of life — to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness — will stop.