True perfection transcends material activities and rests solely in unwavering devotion to Lord Krishna's lotus feet.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.4.3–4 & Initiations — June 28, 1972, Los Angeles 720628SB-LOS ANGELES [31:30 Minutes] SB-02.04.03–04_720628SB-LOS ANGELES Initiations_720628SB-LOS ANGELES Prabhupāda: [prema-dvani] Thank you very much.
Devotees: All glories to Śrī Guru and Gauranga. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. [devotees offer obeisances]
Prabhupāda: Where is Pradyumna? Om namo bhagavate… Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.
Prabhupāda: So, we read this verse, 3 and 4, again. Pradyumna: papraccha cemam evārthaṁ yan māṁ pṛcchatha sattamāḥ kṛṣṇānubhāva-śravaṇe śraddadhāno mahā-manāḥ saṁsthāṁ vijñāya sannyasya karma trai-vargikaṁ ca yat vāsudeve bhagavati ātma-bhāvaṁ dṛḍhaṁ gataḥ [SB 2.4.3–4] Prabhupāda: You have read the purport yesterday? Pradyumna: Ah, no. Prabhupāda: So read the purport. Pradyumna: "The three activities of religion, economic development and sense gratification are generally attractive for conditioned souls struggling for existence in the material world. Such regulated activities prescribed in the Vedas are called the karma-kāṇḍīya conception of life, and householders are generally recommended to follow the rules just to enjoy material prosperity both in this life and in the next. "Most people are attracted by such activities.
Even in the activities of their modern godless civilization, people are more concerned with economic development and sense gratification, without any religious sentiments. As a great emperor of the world, Mahārāja Parīkṣit had to observe such regulations of the Vedic karma-kāṇḍīya section, but by the slight association with Śukadeva Gosvāmī he could perfectly understand that Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Personality of Godhead [Vāsudeva], for whom he had a natural love since his birth, is everything, and thus he fixed his mind firmly upon Him, renouncing all modes of Vedic karma-kāṇḍīya activities. "This perfectional stage is attained by a jñānī after many, many births. The jñānīs, or the empiric philosophers endeavoring for liberation, are thousands of times better than the fruitive workers, and out of hundreds of thousands of such jñānīs one is liberated factually. And out of hundreds of thousands of such liberated persons, even one person is rarely found who can firmly fix his mind unto the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, as it is declared by the Lord Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā [Bg. 7.19]. "Mahārāja Parīkṣit is specially qualified with the word mahā-manāḥ, which puts him on an equal level with the mahātmās described in the Bhagavad-gītā.
In the later age also there were many mahātmās of this type, and they also gave up all karma-kāṇḍīya conceptions of life, solely and wholly depending on the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa. Lord Caitanya, who is Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself, taught us in His Śikṣāṣṭaka [8]: āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām adarśanān marma-hatāṁ karotu vā yathā tathā vā vidadhātu lampaṭo mat-prāṇa-nāthas tu sa eva nāparaḥ Prabhupāda: So let them chant, āśliṣya. Pradyumna: [chants Śikṣāṣṭaka word by word] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] [07:27]
Prabhupāda: That's all. What is the meaning? Pradyumna: "Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is the lover of many devotees [women], may embrace this fully surrendered maidservant or may trample me with His feet, or He may render me brokenhearted by not being present before me for a long duration of time. Still He is nothing less than the Absolute Lord of my heart." Prabhupāda: Hmm.