190
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 10, Ch. 10]
TEXT 17
दरिद्रस्यैव युज्यन्ते साधवः समदर्शिनः । सद्भिः क्षिणोति तं तर्षं तत आराद् विशुद्धयति ॥१७॥
daridrasyaiva yujyante sādhavaḥ sama-darśinaḥ sadbhiḥ kṣiṇoti tam tarṣam tata ārād viśuddhyati
daridrasya —of a person who is poverty-stricken;  eva —indeed;  yujyante —may easily associate;  sādhavaḥ —saintly persons;  sama-darśinaḥ —although  sādhus  are equal to everyone, to the poor and the rich, the poor man can take advantage of their association;  sadbhiḥ —by the association of such saintly persons;  kṣiṇoti —reduces;  tam —the original cause of material suffering;  tarṣam —the desire for material enjoyment;  tataḥ —thereafter;  ārāt —very soon;  viśuddhyati —his material contamination is cleansed off.
TRANSLATION
Saintly persons may freely associate with those who are poverty-stricken, but not with those who are rich. A poverty-stricken man, by association with saintly persons, very soon becomes uninterested in material desires, and the dirty things within the core of his heart are cleansed away.
PURPORT
It is said,  mahad-vicalanam nṝṇām gṛhiṇām dīna-cetasām  ( Bhāg.  10.8.4). The only business of a saintly person or  sannyāsī , a person in the renounced order, is to preach  Kṛṣṇa  consciousness.  Sādhus , saintly persons, want to preach to both the poor and the rich, but the poor take more advantage of the  sādhus ’ preaching than the rich do. A poor man receives  sādhus  very quickly, offers them obeisances, and tries to take advantage of their presence, whereas a rich man keeps a big greyhound dog at his door so that no one can enter his house. He posts a sign saying “Beware of Dog” and avoids the association of saintly persons, whereas a poor man keeps his door open for them and thus benefits