172 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 9, Ch. 13

is unaffected by such dualities in all circumstances. He remains Krsna
conscious by tolerating so-called happiness and distress. This is also con-
firmed in Bhagavad-gita (2.14):

matra-sparsas tu kaunteya
Sitosna-sukha-duhkhadéh
dgamdpdayino ‘nityas
tams titiksasva bharata

“‘O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and dis-
tress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and
disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense per-
ception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without
being disturbed.”’ Those who are liberated, being on the transcendental
platform of rendering service to the Lord, do not care about so-called
happiness and distress. They know that these are like changing seasons,
which are perceivable by contact with the material body. Happiness and
distress come and go. Therefore a pandita, a learned man, is not con-
cerned with them. As it is said, gatdsiin agatdsiims ca ndnusocanti
panditah. The body is dead from the very beginning because it is a lump
of matter. It has no feelings of happiness and distress. Because the soul
within the body is in the bodily concept of life, he suffers happiness and
distress, but these come and go. It is understood herewith that the kings
born in the dynasty of Mithila were all liberated persons, unaffected by
the so-called happiness and distress of this world.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Ninth Canto, Thirteenth
Chapter, of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, entitled “The Dynasty of Maharaja
Nimi.”
