248 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 1, Ch. 5
upaguhanam—embracing; punah—again; vihatum—willing to give up;
icchet—desire; na—never; rasagrahah—one who has relished the mellow;
Janah— person.
TRANSLATION

My dear Vyasa, even though a devotee of Lord Krsna sometimes falls
down somehow or other, he certainly does not undergo material existence
like others [fruitive workers, etc.] because a person who has once relished
the taste of the lotus feet of the Lord can do nothing but remember that
ecstasy again and again.

PURPORT

A devotee of the Lord automatically becomes uninterested in the en-
chantment of material existence because he is rasa-graha, or one who has
tasted the sweetness of the lotus feet of Lord Krsna. There are certainly
many instances where devotees of the Lord have fallen down due to
uncongenial association, just like fruitive workers, who are always prone to
degradation. But even though he falls down, a devotee is never to be con-
sidered the same as a fallen karmi. A karmi suffers the result of his own
fruitive reactions, whereas a devotee is reformed by chastisement directed
by the Lord Himself. The sufferings of an orphan and the sufferings of a
beloved child of a king are not one and the same. An orphan is really poor
because he has no one to take care of him, but a beloved son of a rich man,
although he appears to be on the same level as the orphan, is always under
the vigilance of his capable father. A devotee of the Lord, due to wrong
association, sometimes imitates the fruitive workers. The fruitive workers
want to lord it over the material world. Similarly, a neophyte devotee
foolishly thinks of accumulating some material power in exchange for
devotional service. Such foolish devotees are sometimes put into difficulty
by the Lord Himself. As a special favor, He may remove all material
paraphernalia. By such action, the bewildered devotee is forsaken by all
friends and relatives, and so he comes to his senses again by the mercy of
the Lord and is set right to execute his devotional service.

In the Bhagavad-gitd it is also said that such fallen devotees are given a
chance to take birth in a family of highly qualified brahmanas or in a rich
mercantile family. A devotee in such a position is not as fortunate as one
who is chastised by the Lord and put into a position seemingly of helpless-
