Text 57]
Talks Between Nārada and King Prācīnabarhi
1441
TEXT 57
संशयोऽत्र तु मे विप्र संछिन्नस्तत्कृतो महान् । ऋषयोऽपि हि मुह्यन्ति यत्र नेन्द्रियवृत्तयः ॥५७॥
saṁśayo 'tra tu me vipra sañchinnas tat-kṛto mahān ṛṣayo 'pi hi muhyanti yatra nendriya-vṛttayaḥ
saṁśayaḥ—doubt; atra—here; tu—but; me—my; vipra—O brāhmaṇa; sañchinnaḥ—cleared; tat-kṛtaḥ—done by that; mahān—very great; ṛṣayaḥ—the great sages; api—even; hi—certainly; muhyanti—are bewildered; yatra—where; na—not; indriya—of the senses; vṛttayaḥ—activities.
TRANSLATION
My dear brāhmaṇa, there are contradictions between your instructions and those of my spiritual teachers who engaged me in fruitive activities. I now can understand the distinction between devotional service, knowledge and renunciation. I had some doubts about them, but you have now very kindly dissipated all these doubts. I can now understand how even the great sages are bewildered by the real purpose of life. Of course, there is no question of sense gratification.
PURPORT
King Barhiṣmān was engaged in different types of sacrifice for elevation to the heavenly planets. People generally are attracted by these activities, and very rarely is a person attracted to devotional service, as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu confirms. Unless one is very very fortunate, he does not take to devotional service. Even the so-called learned Vedic scholars are bewildered by devotional service. They are generally attracted to the rituals for sense gratification. In devotional service there is no sense gratification but only transcendental loving service to the Lord. Consequently the so-called priests engaged in sense gratification do not very much like devotional service. The  brāhmaṇas , the priests, have been against this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement since it began with Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. When Caitanya Mahāprabhu started this movement, the priestly class lodged complaints to the Kazi, the magistrate of the Mohammedan government. Caitanya Mahāprabhu had to lead a civil disobedience movement against