194
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 5, Ch. 18]
opulences, but such opulences were not  māyā-sukha . When a devotee acquires unparalleled opulences, they are the direct gifts of the goddess of fortune, who resides in the heart of Nārāyaṇa.
The material opulences a person obtains by offering prayers to the goddess Durgā are temporary. As described in  Bhagavd-gītā  (7.23),  an-tavat tu phalam teṣām tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām : men of meager intelligence desire temporary happiness. We have actually seen that one of the disciples of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Thākura wanted to enjoy the property of his spiritual master, and the spiritual master, being merciful toward him, gave him the temporary property, but not the power to preach the cult of Caitanya Mahāprabhu all over the world. That special mercy of the power to preach is given to a devotee who does not want anything material from his spiritual master but wants only to serve him. The story of the demon Rāvaṇa illustrates this point. Although Rāvaṇa tried to abduct the goddess of fortune Sītādevī from the custody of Lord Rāmacandra, he could not possibly do so. The Sītādevī he forcibly took with him was not the original Sītādevī, but an expansion of  māyā , or Durgādevī. As a result, instead of winning the favor of the real goddess of fortune, Rāvaṇa and his whole family were vanquished by the power of Durgādevī ( sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā ).
TEXT 23
स त्वं ममाप्यच्युत शीर्ष्णि वन्दितं 
    कराम्बुजं यत्त्वदधायि सात्वताम् । 
    विमर्षि मां लक्ष्म वरेण्य मायया 
    क ईश्वरस्येहितमूहितुं विभुरिति ॥२३॥
sa tvam mamāpy acyuta śīrṣṇi vanditam 
    karāmbujam yat tvad-adhāyi sātvatām 
    bibharṣi mām lakṣma vareṇya māyayā 
    ka īśvarasyehitam ūhitum vibhur iti
saḥ—that; tvam—You; mama—of me; api—also; acyuta—O infallible one; śīrṣṇi—on the head; vanditam—worshiped; kara-ambujam—Your lotus hand; yat—which; tvat—by You; adhāyi—placed; sāt-