242
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 7, Ch. 5]
senses of the materialists by showing them shortcuts to material opulence. Sometimes they give some talisman or blessing. Sometimes they attract materialistic persons by producing gold. Then they declare themselves God, and foolish materialists are attracted to them for economic development. As a result of this process of cheating, others are reluctant to accept a religious process, and instead they advise people in general to work for material advancement. This is going on all over the world. Not only now but since time immemorial, no one is interested in  mokṣa , liberation. There are four principles— dharma  (religion),  artha  (economic development),  kāma  (sense gratification) and  mokṣa  (liberation). People accept religion to become materially opulent. And why should one be materially opulent? For sense gratification. Thus people prefer these three  mārgas , the three paths of materialistic life. No one is interested in liberation, and  bhagavad-bhakti , devotional service to the Lord, is above even liberation. Therefore the process of devotional service,  Kṛṣṇa  consciousness, is extremely difficult to understand. This will be explained later by Prahlāda Mahārāja. The teachers  Śaṇḍa  and  Amarka  tried to induce Prahlāda Mahārāja to accept the materialistic way of life, but actually their attempt was a failure.
TEXT 19
तत एनं गुरुर्ज्ञात्वा ज्ञातज्ञेयचतुष्टयम् । 
  दैत्येन्द्रं दर्शयामास मातृमृष्टमलङ्कृतम् ॥१९॥
tata enam gurur jñātvā  
 jñāta-jñeya-catuṣṭayam  
 daityendram darśayām āsa  
 mātṛ-mṛṣṭam alanikṛtam
tataḥ —thereafter;  enam —him (Prahlāda Mahārāja);  guruḥ —his teachers;  jñātvā —knowing;  jñāta —known;  jñeya —which are to be known;  catuṣṭayam —the four diplomatic principles ( sāma , the process of pacifying;  dāna , the process of giving money in charity;  bheda , the principle of dividing; and  daṇḍa , the principle of punishment);  daitya-indram —unto Hiraṇyakaśipu, the King of the Daityas;  darśayām āsa —