Text 40]
King Yayāti Regains His Youth
43
sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate
“One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.” (Bg. 14.26) If one attains devotional service, therefore, he is certainly liberated. Generally, unless one enjoys material happiness, one cannot attain renunciation.  Varṇāśrama  therefore gives the opportunity for gradual elevation. Yadu, the son of Mahārāja Yayāti, explained that he was unable to give up his youth, for he wanted to use it to attain the renounced order in the future.
Mahārāja Yadu was different from his brothers. As stated in the next verse,  turvasuś coditaḥ pitrā druhyuś cānuś ca bhāratal pratyācakhyur adharmajñāḥ . Mahārāja Yadu’s brothers refused to accept their father’s proposal because they were not completely aware of  dharma . To accept orders that follow religious principles, especially the orders of one’s father, is very important. Therefore when the brothers of Mahārāja Yadu refused their father’s order, this was certainly irreligious. Mahārāja Yadu’s refusal, however, was religious. As stated in the Tenth Canto,  yadoś ca dharma-śīlasya : Mahārāja Yadu was completely aware of the principles of religion. The ultimate principle of religion is to engage oneself in devotional service to the Lord. Mahārāja Yadu was very eager to engage himself in the Lord’s service, but there was an impediment: during youth the material desire to enjoy the material senses is certainly present, and unless one fully satisfies these lusty desires in youth, there is a chance of one’s being disturbed in rendering service to the Lord. We have actually seen that many  sannyāsīs  who accept  sannyāsa  prematurely, not having satisfied their material desires, fall down because they are disturbed. Therefore the general process is to go through  gṛhastha  life and  vānaprastha  life and finally come to  sannyāsa  and devote oneself completely to the service of the Lord. Mahārāja Yadu was ready to accept his father’s order and exchange youth for old age because he was confident that the youth taken by his father would be returned. But because this exchange would delay his complete engagement in devotional service, he did not want to accept his father’s old age, for he was eager to achieve freedom from disturbances. Moreover, among the descendants of Yadu would be Lord Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, because Yadu was