176 Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

engaging them in the service of the Lord or His representative. If one is
able to do nothing more, he can simply bow down before the Lord and
His representative and drink the caranamrta, the water which has washed
the lotus feet of the Lord or His devotee.

On hearing these statements of Maharaja Pariksit, Sukadeva Gosvami
became overwhelmed with devotional ecstasy because of King Pariksit’s
advanced understanding of the Vaisnava philosophy. Sukadeva Gosvami
was already engaged in describing the activities of the Lord, and when he
was asked by Maharaja Pariksit to describe them further, he continued
with great pleasure to narrate $timad-Bhagavatam.

There was a very nice brahmana friend of Lord Krsna. As a perfect
brahmana, he was very elevated in transcendental knowledge, and because
of his advanced knowledge, he was not at all attached to material enjoy-
ment. Therefore he was very peaceful and had achieved supreme control
over his senses. This means that the brahmana was a perfect devotee
because unless one is a perfect devotee, he cannot achieve the highest
standard of knowledge. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gita that a person who
has come to the point of perfection of knowledge surrenders urito the
Supreme Personality of Godhead. In other words, any person who has
surrendered his life for the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
has come to the point of perfect knowledge. The result of perfect know-
ledge is that one becomes detached from the materialistic way of life.
This detachment means complete control of the senses, which are always
attracted by material enjoyment. The senses of the devotee become
purified, and in that stage the senses are engaged in the service of the
Lord. That is the complete field of devotional service.

Although the brahmana friend of Lord Krsna was a householder, he was
not busy accumulating wealth for very comfortable living; therefore he
was satisfied by the income which automatically came to him according to
his destiny. This is the sign of perfect knowledge. A man who is in perfect
knowledge knows that one cannot be happier than he is destined to be. In
this material world, everyone is destined to suffer a certain amount of
distress and to enjoy a certain amount of happiness. The amount of happi-
ness and distress is already predestined for every living entity. No one can
increase or decrease the happiness of the materialistic way of life. The
brahmana, therefore, did not exert himself for more material happiness,
but he used his time for advancement of Krsna consciousness. Externally
he appeared to be very poor because he had no rich dress and could not
provide a very rich dress for his wife, and because their material condition
was not very opulent they were not even eating sufficiently, and thus both
