402
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 4, Ch. 9]
by Sanandana;  ūrdhva-retasaḥ —infallible celibates;  māsaiḥ —within months;  aham —I;  ṣaḍbhiḥ —six;  amuṣya —of Him;  pādayoḥ —of the lotus feet;  chāyām —shelter;  upetya —achieving;  apagataḥ —fell down;  pṛthak-matiḥ —my mind fixed on things other than the Lord.
TRANSLATION
Dhruva Mahārāja thought to himself: To endeavor to be situated in the shade of the lotus feet of the Lord is not an ordinary task because even the great  brahmacārīs  headed by Sanandana, who practiced the  aṣṭānga-yoga  in trance, attained the shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord only after many, many births. Although within six months I achieved the same result, nevertheless, due to my thinking differently from the Lord, I fell down from my position.
PURPORT
In this verse Dhruva Mahārāja himself explains the cause of his moroseness. First he laments that to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead directly is not easy. Even great saintly persons like the four celebrated  brahmacārīs  headed by Sanandana—Sanaka, Sanātana, Sanatkumāra and Sanandana—practiced the  yoga  system for many, many births and remained in trance before getting the opportunity to see the Supreme Lord face to face. As far as Dhruva Mahārāja was concerned, he saw the Supreme Lord personally after only six months of practice in devotional service. He expected, therefore, that as soon as he met the Supreme Lord, the Lord would take him to His abode immediately, without waiting. Dhruva Mahārāja could understand very clearly that the Lord had offered him the rule of the world for 36,000 years because in the beginning he was under the spell of material energy and wanted to take revenge against his stepmother and rule over his father's kingdom. Dhruva Mahārāja greatly lamented his propensity for ruling the material world and his revengeful attitude toward other living entities.
TEXT 31
अहो वत ममानात्म्यं मन्दभाग्यस्य पश्यत । मवच्छिद्धः पादभूलं गत्वायाचे यदन्तवत् ॥३१॥
aho bata mamānātmyam manda-bhāgyasya paśyata bhava-cchidaḥ pāda-mūlam gatvā yāce yad antavat