Text 5]
The Lord in the Heart
69
pāḥ —the trees;  parabhṛtaḥ —one who maintains others;  saritaḥ —the rivers;  api —also;  aśuṣyan —have dried up;  ruddhāḥ —closed;  guhāḥ —caves;  kim —whether;  ajitaḥ —the Almighty Lord;  avati —give protection;  na —not;  upasannān —the surrendered soul;  kasmāt —what for then;  bhajanti —flatters;  kavayaḥ —the learned;  dhana —wealth;  dur-mada-andhān —too intoxicated by.
TRANSLATION
Are there no torn clothes lying on the common road? Do the trees, which exist for maintaining others, no longer give alms in charity? Do the rivers, being dried up, no longer supply water to the thirsty? Are the caves of the mountains now closed, or, above all, does the Almighty Lord not protect the fully surrendered souls? Why then do the learned sages go to flatter those who are intoxicated by hard-earned wealth?
PURPORT
The renounced order of life is never meant for begging nor living at the cost of others as a parasite. According to the dictionary, a parasite is a sycophant who lives at the cost of society without making any contribution to that society. The renounced order is meant for contributing something substantial to the society and not depending on the earnings of the householders. On the contrary, acceptance of alms from the householders by the bona fide mendicant is an opportunity afforded by the saint for tangible benefit of the donor. In the  sanātana-dharma  institution, almsgiving to the mendicant is part of a householder's duty, and it is advised in the scriptures that the householders should treat the mendicants as their family children and should provide them with food, clothing, etc., without being asked. Pseudo-mendicants, therefore, should not take advantage of the charitable disposition of the faithful householders. The first duty of a person in the renounced order of life is to contribute some literary work for the benefit of the human being in order to give him realized direction toward self-realization. Amongst the other duties in the renounced order of life of Śrīla Sanātana, Śrīla Rūpa and the other Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana, the foremost duty discharged by them was to hold learned discourses amongst themselves at Sevakuñja Vṛndāvana (the spot where Śrī Rādhā-Dāmodara Temple was established by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī and where the actual  samādhi  tombs of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī are laid). For the benefit of all in human society, they