404 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 1, Ch. 8
TRANSLATION
My obeisances are unto You, who are the property of the materially
impoverished. You have nothing to do with the actions and reactions of
the material modes of nature. You are self-satisfied, and therefore You are
the most gentle and are master of the monists.
PURPORT
A living being is finished as soon as there is nothing to possess. Therefore
a living being cannot be, in the real sense of the term, a renouncer. A
living being renounces something for gaining something more valuable.
A student sacrifices his childish proclivities to gain better education. A
servant gives up his job for a better job. Similarly, a devotee renounces
the material world not for nothing but for something tangible in spiritual
value. Srila Riipa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami and Srila Raghunatha
Gosvami and others gave up their worldly pomp and prosperity for the
sake of the service of the Lord. They were big men in the worldlysense. The
Gosvamis were ministers in the government service of Bengal, and Srila
Dasa Gosvami was the son of a big zamindar of his time. But they left
everything to gain something superior to what they previously possessed.
The devotees are generally without material prosperity, but they have a
very secret treasure house in the lotus feet of the Lord. There is a nice
story about Srila Sanatana Gosvami. He had a touchstone with him, and this
stone was left in a pile of refuse. A needy man took it, but later on won-
dered why the valuable stone was kept in such a neglected place. He there-
fore asked for the most valuable thing from him, and then he was given the
holy name of the Lord. Akijicana means one who has nothing to give
materially. A factual devotee or the mahatma does not give anything
material to anyone because he has already left all material assets. He
can, however, deliver the supreme asset, namely the Personality of God-
head, because He is the only property of a factual devotee. The touchstone
of Sanatana Gosvami which was thrown in the rubbish was
not the property of the Gosvami, otherwise it would not have been kept in
such a place. This specific example is given for the neophyte devotees
just to convince them that material hankerings and spiritual advancement
go ill together. Unless one is able to see everything as spiritual in relation
with the Supreme Lord, one must always distinguish between spirit and
matter. A spiritual master like Srila Sanatana Gosvami, although personally
able to see everything as spiritual, set this example for us only because we
have no such spiritual vision.
