242 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 7, Ch. 5

senses of the materialists by showing them shortcuts to material opu-
lence. Sometimes they give some talisman or blessing. Sometimes they
attract materialistic persons by producing gold. Then they declare them-
selves God, and foolish materialists are attracted to them for economic
development. As a result of this process of cheating, others are reluctant
to accept a religious process, and instead they advise people in general to
work for material advancement. This is going on all over the world. Not
only now but since time immemorial, no one is interested in moksa,
liberation. There are four principles—dharma (religion), artha
(economic development), kama (sense gratification) and moksa (libera-
tion). People accept religion to become materially opulent. And why
should one be materially opulent? For sense gratification. Thus people
prefer these three margas, the three paths of materialistic life. No one is
interested in liberation, and bhagaved-bhakti, devotional service to the
Lord, is above even liberation. Therefore the process of devotional ser-
vice, Krsna consciousness, is extremely difficult to understand. This will
be explained later by Prahlada Maharaja. The teachers Sanda and
Amarka tried to induce Prahlada Maharaja to accept the materialistic way
of life, but actually their attempt was a failure.

TEXT 19
TA Ot Tea MIVTIGETy |
Qk TAIT AITTEMT ETT 1122

tata enam gurur jndtva
Jnata-jneya-catustayam

daityendram darsayam dsa
matr-mrstam alankrtam

tatah—thereafter; enam—him (Prahlada Maharaja); guruh—his
teachers; jfidtud—knowing; jfidta—known; jneya—which are to be
known; catustayam—the four diplomatic principles (séma, the process
of pacifying; dana, the process of giving money in charity; bheda, the
principle of dividing; and danda, the principle of punishment); daitya-
indram—unto Hiranyakasipu, the King of the Daityas; darsayam dsa—
