10. The Property
Of the Impoverished

namo ’kificana-vittaya
nivrtta-guna-vrttaye

atmaramaya Santaya
kaivalya-pataye namah

My obeisances are unto You, who are
the property of the materially im-
poverished. You have nothing to do with
the actions and reactions of the ma-
terial modes of nature. You are self-
satisfied, and therefore You are the
most gentle and are master of the
monists.

—Srimad-Bhdagavatam 1.8.27

A living being is finished as soon as there is nothing to possess.
Therefore a living being cannot be, in the real sense of the term, a re-
nouncer. A living being renounces something for gaining something
more valuable. A student sacrifices his childish proclivities to gain better
education. A servant gives up his job for a better job. Similarly, a devotee
renounces the material world not for nothing but for something tangible
in spiritual value. Srila Ripa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami, and Srila
Raghunatha dasa Gosvami and others gave up their worldly pomp and
prosperity for the sake of the service of the Lord. They were big men in

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