SB 7.7.39

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TRANSLATION

One's riches, beautiful wife and female friends, one's sons and daughters,

one's residence, one's domestic animals like cows, elephants and horses, one's

treasury, economic development and sense gratification — indeed, even the

lifetime in which one can enjoy all these material opulences — are certainly

temporary and flickering. Since the opportunity of human life is temporary,

what

benefit can these material opulences give to a sensible man who has understood

himself to be eternal?

PURPORT

This verse describes how the advocates of economic development are frustrated

by the laws of nature. As the previous verse asks, kim• vis•ayopap•danaih•:

what is the actual benefit of so-called economic development? The history of

the world has factually proved that attempts to increase economic development

for bodily comfort through the advancement of material civilization have done

nothing to remedy the inevitability of birth, death, old age and disease.

Everyone has knowledge of huge empires throughout the history of the world —

the

Roman Empire, the Moghul Empire, the British Empire and so on — but all the

societies engaged in such economic development (sarve 'rtha-k•m•h•) have been

frustrated by the laws of nature through periodic wars, pestilence, famine and

so on. Thus all their attempts have been flickering and temporary. In this

verse, therefore, it is said, kurvanti martyasya kiyat priyam• cal•h•: one may

be

very proud of possessing a vast empire, but such empires are impermanent;

after one hundred or two hundred years, everything is finished. All such

positions of economic development, although created with great endeavor and

hardship,

are vanquished very soon. Therefore they have been described as cal•h•. An

intelligent man should conclude that material economic development is not at

all

pleasing. The entire world is described in Bhagavad-g•t• as duh•kh•layam a

œ•œvatam [bg. 8.15] — miserable and temporary. Economic development may be

pleasing for some time, but it cannot endure. Thus many big businessmen are now

 

very morose because they are being harassed by various plundering governments.

In conclusion, why should one waste his time for so-called economic

development, which is neither permanent nor pleasing to the soul?

On the other hand, our relationship with Kr•s•n•a, the Supreme Personality

of Godhead, is eternal. Nitya-siddha kr•s•n•a-prema. The pure souls are

eternally in love with Kr•s•n•a, and this permanent love, either as a servant,

a

friend, a parent or a conjugal lover, is not at all difficult to revive.

Especially in this age, the concession is that simply by chanting the Hare

Kr•s•n•a

mantra (harer n•ma harer n•ma harer n•maiva kevalam [Adi 17.21]) one revives

his original relationship with God and thus becomes so happy that he does not

want anything material. As enunciated by Œr• Caitanya Mah•prabhu, na dhanam•

na janam• na sundar•m• kavit•m• v• jagad-•œa k•maye. A very advanced

devotee in Kr•s•n•a consciousness does not want riches, followers or

possessions.

R•yah• kalatram• paœavah• sut•dayo gr•h• mah• kuñjara-koœa-bh•tayah•.

The satisfaction of possessing material opulences, although perhaps of a

different standard, is available even in the lives of dogs and hogs, who cannot

 

revive their eternal relationship with Kr•s•n•a. In human life, however, our

eternal, dormant relationship with Kr•s•n•a is possible to revive. Therefore

Prahl

•da Mah•r•ja has described this life as arthadam. Consequently, instead of

wasting our time for economic development, which cannot give us any happiness,

if we simply try to revive our eternal relationship with Kr•s•n•a, we will

properly utilize our lives.