404 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 4, Ch. 9
practicing devotional service. In other words, every one of us who is en-
gaged in devotional service in Krsna consciousness should be completely
free from all material aspirations. Otherwise we will have to lament like
Dhruva Maharaja.
TEXT 32
s
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Ranga  aTETTATH: 11321
matir vidusita devaih
patadbhir asahisnubhih
yo narada-vacas tathyam
nagrahisam asattamah

matih—intelligence; vidiisita—conitaminated; devaih—by the demigods;
patadbhih—who will fall down; asahisnubhih—intolerant; yah—I who;
narada—of the great sage Narada; vacah—of the instructions; tathyam
—the truth; na—not; agrahisam—could accept; asat-tamah--the most
wretched.

TRANSLATION

Since all the demigods who are situated in the higher planetary system
will have to come down again, they are all envious of my being elevated to
Vaikunthaloka by devotional service. These intolerant demigods have
dissipated my intelligence, and only for this reason could I not accept the
genuine benediction of the instructions of Sage Narada.

PURPORT

As shown by many instances in the Vedic literature, when a person
undergoes severe austerities, the demigods become very much perturbed
because they are always afraid of losing their posts as the predominating
deities of the heavenly planets. It is known to them that their position in
the higher planetary system is not permanent, as it is stated in the
Bhagavad-gita, Ninth Chapter. It is said in the Gita that after exhausting
the results of their pious activities, all the demigods who are inhabitants of
the higher planetary system have to come back again to this earth.

It is a fact that the demigods control the different activities of the limbs
of our bodies. Factually we are not free even in moving our eyelids. Every-
thing is controlled by them. Dhruva Maharaja’s conclusion is that these
demigods, being envious of his superior position in devotional service,
