222 ‘ Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 7, Ch. 5

nothing practical. Prahlada Maharaja, however, being an exalted devo-
tee, had acquired all the qualities of education.

yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akificana
sarvair gunais tatra samdsate surah

harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-guna
manorathendasati dhdvato bahih

“One who has unflinching devotional faith in Krsna consistently
manifests all the good qualities of Krsna and the demigods. However, he
who has no devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead has no good
qualifications because he is engaged by mental concoction in material ex-
istence, which is the external feature of the Lord.” (Bhag. 5.18.12) So-
called educated philosophers and scientists who are simply on the mental
platform cannot distinguish between what is actually sat, eternal, and
what is asat, temporary. The Vedic injunction is asato md jyotir gama:
everyone should give up the platform of temporary existence and ap-
proach the eternal platform. The soul is eternal, and topics concerning
the eternal soul are actually knowledge. Elsewhere it is said, apasyatam
Gtma-tattvarn grhesu grha-medhinam: those who are attached to the
bodily conception of life and who thus stick to life as a grhastha, or
householder, on the platform of material sense enjoyment, cannot see the
welfare of the eternal soul. Prahlada Maharaja confirmed this by saying
that if one wants success in life, he should immediately understand from
the right sources what his self-interest is and how he should mold his life
in spiritual consciousness. One should understand himself to be part and
parcel of Krsna and thus completely take shelter of His lotus feet for
guaranteed spiritual success. Everyone in the material world is in the
bodily conception, struggling hard for existence, life after life. Prahlada
Maharaja therefore recommended that to stop this material condition of
repeated birth and death, one should go to the forest (vana).

In the varndsrama system, one first becomes a brahmacari, then a
grhastha, a vanaprastha and finally a sannydsi. Going to the forest
means accepting vdnaprastha life, which is between grhastha life and
sannydsa. As confirmed in the Visnu Purana (3.8.9), varndsra-
macaravata purusena parah puman visnur aradhyate: by accepting the
institution of varna and Gsrama, one can very easily elevate himself to
