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Mahārāja Pṛthu's Going Back Home
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ephemeral. Moreover, Kṛṣṇa says,  tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām : “They are simply meant for men of small intelligence.” (Bg. 7.23) The word  viṣaya  denotes sense gratification. The  karmīs  flatly state that they want sense gratification. The  yogīs  also want sense gratification, but they want it to a higher degree. It is their desire to show some miraculous results through the practice of  yoga . Thus they strive very hard to achieve success in becoming smaller than the smallest or greater than the greatest, or in creating a planet like the earth, or, as scientists, by inventing so many wonderful machines. Similarly, the  jñānīs  are also engaged in sense gratification, for they are simply interested in becoming one with the Supreme. Thus the aim of all these activities is sense gratification to a higher or a lower degree. The  bhaktas , however, are not interested in sense gratificatory practices; they are simply satisfied to get an opportunity to serve the Lord. Although they are satisfied in any condition, there is nothing they cannot obtain because they are purely engaged in the service of the Lord.
The wives of the demigods condemn the performers of sense gratificatory activities as  vañcita , cheated. Those so engaged are actually killing themselves ( ātma-hā ). As stated in  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam :
nṛ-deham ādyaṁ su-labhaṁ su-durlabhaṁ 
        plavaṁ su-kalpaṁ guru-karṇa-dhāram 
        mayānukūlena nabhasvateritaṁ 
        pumān bhavābdhiṁ na taret sa ātma-hā  
        ( Bhāg.  11.20.17)
When one wants to cross a large ocean, he requires a strong boat. It is said that this human form of life is a good boat by which one can cross the ocean of nescience. In the human form of life one can obtain the guidance of a good navigator, the spiritual master. He also gets a favorable wind by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, and that wind is the instructions of Kṛṣṇa. The human body is the boat, the instructions of Lord Kṛṣṇa are the favorable winds, and the spiritual master is the navigator. The spiritual master knows well how to adjust the sails to catch the winds favorably and steer the boat to its destination. If, however, one does not take advantage of this opportunity, he wastes the human form of life. Wasting time and life in this way is the same as committing suicide.
The word  labdhvāpavargyam  is significant in this verse because, according to  Jīva Gosvāmī ,  āpavargyam , or the path of liberation, does not refer to merging into the impersonal Brahman but to  sālokyādi-siddhi  which