Text 5]
The Characteristics of Rṣabhadeva
145
brāhmaṇa  must perform the duty of a  brāhmaṇa  without cheating the public. It is not that one attains the name of a  brāhmaṇa  without the qualifications. It is the king's duty to see that everyone engages in his occupational duty according to Vedic principles. In addition, retirement at the end of life is compulsory. Mahārāja Nābhi, although still a king, retired from family life and went with his wife to a place called Badarikāśrama in the Himalayas, where the Deity Nara-Nārāyaṇa is worshiped. The words  prasanna-nipuṇena tapasā  indicate that the King accepted all kinds of austerity very expertly and jubilantly. He did not at all mind leaving his comfortable life at home, although he was the emperor. Despite undergoing severe austerities and penances, he felt very pleased at Badarikāśrama, and he did everything there expertly. In this way, being fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness ( samādhi-yoga ), always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, Vāsudeva, Mahārāja Nābhi attained success at the end of his life and was promoted to the spiritual world, Vaikuṇṭhaloka.
This is the way of Vedic life. One must stop the process of repeated birth and death and return home, back to Godhead. The words  tan-mahimānam avāpa  are significant in this regard. Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī says that  mahimā  means liberation in this life. We should act in such a way in this life that after giving up this body, we will become liberated from the bondage of repeated birth and death. This is called  jīvan-mukti . Śrīla Vīrarāghava Ācārya states that in the  Chāndogya Upaniṣad  there are eight symptoms of a  jīvan-mukta , a person who is already liberated even when living in this body. The first symptom of one so liberated is that he is freed from all sinful activity ( apahata-pāpa ). As long as one is under the clutches of  māyā  in the material energy, one has to engage in sinful activity.  Bhagavad-gītā  describes such people as  duṣkṛtinaḥ , which indicates that they are always engaged in sinful activity. One who is liberated in this life does not commit any sinful activities. Sinful activity involves illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication and gambling. Another symptom of a liberated person is  vijara , which indicates that he is not subjected to the miseries of old age. Another symptom is  vimṛtyu . A liberated person prepares himself in such a way that he does not take on any more material bodies, which are destined to die. In other words, he does not fall down again to repeat birth and death. Another symptom is  viśoka , which indicates that he is callous to material distress and