914 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 4, Ch. 22

artha—riches; indriya—senses; arama—gratification; sa-gosthi—with their
companion; atrsnaya—by reluctance; tat—that; sammatanam-—since ap-
proved by them; aparigrahena—by nonacceptance; ca—also; vivikta-rucya—
disgusted taste; paritose—happiness; atmani—self; vina—without; hareh—of
the Supreme Personality of Godhead; guna—qualities; piyusa—nectar;
panat— drinking.

TRANSLATION

One has to make progress in spiritual life by not associating with per-
sons who are simply interested in making money and sense gratification.
Not only such persons, but one who associates with such persons should be
avoided. One should mold his life in such a way that he cannot live in
peace without drinking the nectar of the glorification of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, Hari. One can be thus elevated by losing taste for
sense enjoyment.

PURPORT

In the material world everyone is interested in money and sense gratifi-
cation. The only objective is to earn as much money as possible and utilize
it for satisfaction of the senses. Srila Sukadeva Gosvami thus described
the activities of the materialistic persons:

nidraya hriyate naktam vyavayena ca va vayah
diva carthehaya rajan kutumba-bharanena va (Bhag. 2.1.3)

This is a typical example of materialistic persons. At night they waste their
time by sleeping more than six hours or by wasting time in sex indulgence.
This is their occupation at night, and in the morning they go to their office
or business place just to earn money. As soon as there is some money, they
become busy in purchasing things for their children and others. Such per-
sons are never interested in understanding the values of life—what is God,
what is the individual soul, what is its relationship with God, etc. Things
are degraded to such an extent that those who are supposed to be religious
are also at the present moment only interested in sense gratification. The
number of materialistic persons in this age of Kali has increased more than
in any other age; therefore persons who are interested in going back home,
back to Godhead, should not only engage in the service of realized souls
but should give up the company of materialistic persons whose only aim is
to earn money and employ it in sense gratification. They should also not
