Text 41]
The Pāṇḍavas Retire Timely
821
PURPORT
To become purified of material contamination is the necessary qualification for becoming one of the associates of the Lord. No one can become an associate of the Lord or can go back to Godhead without such purification. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, therefore, to become spiritually pure, at once gave up his royal opulence by dress and garments. The  kaśaya  or saffron loincloth of a  sannyāsī  indicates freedom from all attractive material garments, and thus he changed his dress accordingly. He became disinterested in his kingdom and family and thus became free from all material contamination or material designation. People are generally attached to various kinds of designations, namely the designations of family, society, country, occupation, wealth, position and many others. As long as one is attached to such designations, he is considered materially impure. The so-called leaders of men in the modern age are attached by national consciousness, but they do not know that such false consciousness is also another designation of the materially conditioned soul, and one has to relinquish such designations before one can become eligible to go back to Godhead. Foolish people, however, adore such men who die in national consciousness, but here is an example of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, a royal king who prepared himself to leave this world without such national consciousness. And yet he is remembered even today because he was a great pious king, almost on the same level with the Personality of Godhead Śrī Rāma. And because people of the world were dominated by such pious kings, they were happy in all respects, and it was quite possible for such great emperors to rule the world.
TEXT 41
वाचं जुहाव मनसि तत्प्राण इतरे च तम् । मृत्यावपानं सोत्सर्गं तं पञ्चत्वे ह्यजोहवीत् ॥४१॥
vācam juhāva manasi   tat prāṇa itare ca tam   mṛtyāv apānam sotsargam   tam pañcatve hy ajohavīt
vācam —speeches;  juhāva —relinquished;  manasi —into the mind;  tat prāṇa —mind into breathing;  itare ca —other senses also;  tam —into that;  mṛtyau —into death;  apānam —breathing;  sa-utsargam —with all dedication;  tam —that;  pañcatve —into the body made of five elements;  hi —certainly;  ajohavīt —amalgamated it.