PLATE FIVE

Prahlada Maharaja, the most dear servitor of the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, once went out touring the universe with some of his confi-
dential associates just to study the nature of saintly persons. Thus he ar-
rived at the bank of the Kaveri, where there was a mountain known as
Sahya. There he found a great saintly person who was lying on the
ground, covered with dirt and dust, but who was deeply spiritually ad-
vanced. Neither by that saintly person’s activities, by his bodily features,
by his words, nor by the symptoms of his cultural status could people
understand whether he was the same person they had known. The great
devotee Prahlada Maharaja, in order to understand him, inquired why he
had ceased taking part in all materialistic activities. The sage explained
that material existence is illusory and that real happiness can be achieved
by retiring from materialistic activities and absorbing oneself in self-
realization. (pp. 98-137)
