Text 12] Dhruva Maharaja Returns Home 377

is ripe and more relishable. It is possible to mature in devotional service
only in the association of devotees.

TEXT 12

aa aecafaat freia wet

YAWNAT! ATARAATASNT: |
q aaa = aachaqantae-
AUT GTIETT HATA: 112 VI

te na smaranty atitaram priyam ia martyam
ye canv adah suta-suhrd-grha-vitta-darah

ye tv abja-nabha bhavadiya-padaravinda-
saugandhya-lubdha-hrdayesu krta-prasangah

te—they; na—never; smaranti-remember; atitaram—highly; priyam—
dear; isa—O Lord; marltyam—material body; ye—they who; ca—also; anu—
in relationship with; adah—that; suta—sons; suhrt—friends; grha—home;
vitta—wealth; darah—and wife; ye—those who; tu—then; abja-nabha—O
Lord who has a lotus navel; bhavadiya—of Y our; pada-aravinda—\otus feet;
saugandh ya—the fragrance; lubdha—have achieved; hrdayesu—with devotees
whose hearts; krta-prasangah—have association.

TRANSLATION

O Lord who has a lotus navel, if a person happens to associate with a
devotee whose heart always hankers after Your lotus feet, seeking always
their fragrance, he is never attached to the material body or, in relationship
with it, offspring, friends, home, wealth, and wife, which are very, very
dear to materialistic persons. He does not care for them.

PURPORT

A special advantage in devotional service is that devotees not only enjoy
the transcendental pastimes of the Lord by hearing and chanting and
glorifying them, but also they are not very much attached to their bodies,
unlike the yogis, who are too attached to the body and who think that by
performing bodily gymnastic exercises they will advance in spiritual con-
sciousness. Yogis are generally not very much interested in devotional
service; they want to regulate the breathing process. This is simply a
bodily concern. Here Dhruva Maharaja plainly says that a devotee has no
more bodily interest. He knows that he is not the body. From the very
