188
Krṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead
want any opulence. I only desire not to forget His service. I simply wish to be associated with His pure devotees. May my mind and activities be always engaged in His service. The unborn Supreme Personality of Godhead Krṣṇa knows that many great personalities have fallen from their positions because of extravagant opulence. Therefore, even when His devotee asks for some opulence from Him, the Lord sometimes does not give it. He is very cautious about His devotees. Because a devotee in an immature position of devotional service may, if offered great opulence, fall from his position due to being in the material world, the Lord does not offer opulence to him. This is another manifestation of the causeless mercy of the Lord upon His devotee. His first interest is that the devotee may not fall. He is exactly like a well-wishing father who does not give much wealth into the hand of his immature son, but who, when the son is grown up and knows how to spend money, gives him the whole treasury house.”
The learned  brāhmaṇa  thus concluded that whatever opulences he had received from the Lord should not be used for his extravagant sense gratification, but for the service of the Lord. The  brāhmaṇa  accepted his newly-acquired opulence, but he did so in a spirit of renunciation, unattached to sense gratification, and thus he lived very peacefully with his wife, enjoying all the facilities of opulence as  prasādam  of the Lord. He enjoyed varieties of foodstuff by offering it to the Lord and then taking it as  prasādam . Similarly, if by the grace of the Lord we get such opulences as material wealth, fame, power, education and beauty, it is our duty to consider that they are all gifts of the Lord and must be used for His service, not for our sense enjoyment. The learned  brāhmaṇa  remained in that position, and instead of deteriorating due to great opulence, his love and affection for Lord Krṣṇa increased day after day. Material opulence can be the cause of degradation and also the cause of elevation, according to the purposes for which it is used. If opulence is used for sense gratification, it is the cause of degradation, and if it is used for the service of the Lord, it is the cause of elevation.
It is evident from Lord Krṣṇa’s dealings with Sudāmā Vipra that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very, very pleased with a person who is possessed of brahminical qualities. A qualified  brāhmaṇa  like Sudāmā Vipra is naturally a devotee of Lord Krṣṇa. Therefore it is said,  brāhmaṇo vaiṣṇavaḥ : a  brāhmaṇa  is a  Vaiṣṇava . Or sometimes it is said,  brāhmanaḥ paṇḍitaḥ .  Paṇḍita  means a highly learned person. A  brāhmaṇa  cannot be foolish or uneducated. Therefore there are two divisions of  brāhmaṇas , namely  Vaiṣṇavas  and  paṇḍitas . Those who are simply learned are  paṇḍits , but not yet devotees of the Lord, or  Vaiṣṇavas . Lord Krṣṇa is not