Perfect detachment means constant Krishna consciousness, not worldly indifference, achieved through lifelong spiritual practice.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Prabhupāda: [leads kīrtana] [prema-dhvani]. All glories to the assembled devotees. All glories to the assembled devotees. All glories to the assembled devotees.
Thank you very much. [33:55] yas tv ātma-ratir eva syād ātma-tṛptaś ca mānavaḥ ātmany eva ca santuṣṭas tasya kāryaṃ na vidyate [Bg 3.17] [One who is, however, taking pleasure in the self, who is illumined in the self, who rejoices in and is satisfied with the self only, fully satiated—for him there is no duty.] Now, so far yajña, offering sacrifice for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord, as we are discussing for the last few days, now here, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa says that for a person who is already situated in the spiritual platform and is satisfied with his own self, he hasn't got to do anything. He has surpassed that stages of offering sacrifice, worship, prayers, everything—one who is situated in self-satisfied state. Just like Śukadeva Gosvāmī.
He was, as the other day we were narrating the story of Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he was passing on naked, sixteen-years-old boy, young boy, and very nice feature of the body, peaceful. And he was passing naked, and the girls who were taking bath naked on the river, they saw that innocent person, so they did not cover their body. But when the father was passing, such a learned sage, old man, Vyāsadeva, who is the author of all Vedic literature—he is not an ordinary man—but because he was a worldly man, a householder, the girls, after seeing him, covered their body. That story the other day we have narrated before you. So the stage of Śukadeva Gosvāmī is ātma-rati, self-satisfied, doesn't care for anything of the world.
He is aloof from the world. We should not imitate Śukadeva Gosvāmī and become naked. [chuckles] Simply by... Because there are many so-called mendicants in India, they, I mean to say, loiter in the street naked, and sometimes they are arrested by the police, like that.
Imitation is not required. Imitation is not required. But there is a stage like that. Just like a madman.
Sometimes a madman, he also, I mean to say, wanders the street naked. So he is also in..., compact in some thought, but he is a madman. But similarly, a person who is completely compact in Kṛṣṇa thought, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is also a madman according to the calculation of this world. I think there is a line in Shakespeare's literature, "The lunatic, mad, and the poet" or something like that, "all compact in thought." [The reference is A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act V, Scene I: "The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, are of imagination all compact."]. So a madman and a ātma-rati person, self-satisfied man, outwardly you will find there is no difference, but inwardly, oh, there is vast difference. There is a story of Jaòa Bharata, Jaòa Bharata, a brāhmaṇa boy whose name was Jaòa Bharata.
He was formerly the emperor of this world. His name was Mahārāja Bharata. And by his name now India is called Bhārata-varṣa. Formerly this whole planet was named as Bhārata-varṣa.