98 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 7, Ch. 7

punya-jito lokah ksiyata. As the material positions we acquire here by
hard work are vanquished in due course of time, one’s residence in the
heavenly planets is also eventually vanquished. According to one’s ac-
tivities of piety in different degrees, one obtains different standards of
life, but none of them are permanent, and therefore they are all impure.
Consequently, one should not endeavor to be promoted to the higher
planetary systems, only to return to this earth or descend still lower to
the hellish planets. To stop this cycle of going up and coming down, one
must take to Krsna consciousness. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore
said:

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija
(Ce. Madhya 19.151)

The living entity is rotating in the cycle of birth and death, going some-
times to the higher planets and sometimes to the lower planets, but that
is not the solution to the problems of life. But if by the grace of Krsna
one is fortunate enough to meet a guru, a representative of Krsna, one
gets the clue to returning home, back to Godhead, having achieved self-
realization. This is what is actually desirable. Bhajatatma-labdhaye: one
must take to Krsna consciousness for self-realization.

TEXT 41

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yad-artha iha karmani
vidvan-many asakrn narah

karoty ato viparyasam
amogham vindate phalam

yat—of which; arthe—for the purpose; iha—in this material world;
karméni—many activities (in factories, industries, speculation and so
on); vidvat—advanced in knowledge; mani—thinking himself to be;
asakrt—again and again; narah—a person; karoti—performs; atah—
