Material intoxication blinds the affluent to God; only the spiritually exhausted truly seek Him.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.8.26 — April 18, 1973, Los Angeles 730418SB-LOS ANGELES [37:14 Minutes] SB-01.08.26_730418SB-LOS ANGELES Prabhupāda: [leads singing of Jaya rādhā-mādhava] [05:17] [prema-dhvāṇī prayers] Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa. [break] Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [leads chanting of verse] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrībhir edhamāna-madaḥ pumān naivārhaty abhidhātuṁ vai tvām akiñcana-gocaram [SB 1.8.26] [men chant]
Prabhupāda: Now ladies. Ladies. [ladies chant] That's all right. Word meaning.
Pradyumna: janma—birth; aiśvarya—opulence; śruta—education; śrībhiḥ—by the possession of beauty; edhamāna—progressively increasing; madaḥ—intoxication; pumān—the human being; na—never; eva—ever; arhati—deserves; abhidhātum—address in feeling; vai—certainly; tvām—You; akiñcana-gocaram—one who is approached easily by the materially exhausted man. [12:31] Translation: "My Lord, Your Lordship can easily be approached, but only by those who are materially exhausted. One who is on the path of material progress, trying to improve himself with respectable parentage, great opulence, high education and bodily beauty, cannot approach You with sincere feeling." Prabhupāda: So these are the disqualifications. Material opulence, these things...
Janma, to take birth in very aristocratic family or nation. Just like you American boys and girls, you are born of rich father, mother, nation. So this is, in one sense, it is God's grace. That is also...
To take birth in nice family or in nice nation, to become opulent, very rich, to become advanced in knowledge, education, all, everything material—and beauty—these are the gifts of pious activities. Otherwise, why a poor man, he does not attract anyone's attention? But a rich man attracts. Educated man attracts the attention.
A fool, rascal, does not attract attention. So similarly in beauty, in opulence, these things are materially very beneficial. Janmaiśvarya-śruta. But when a person is materially opulent in this way, he becomes intoxicated: "Oh, I am rich man. I am educated man.