SB 1.8.26 (1964)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 26
Janma aiswarya shruta shrivih edhamana madah puman Na eva arhati abhidhatum bai twam akinchanagocharam.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Janma—birth, aiswarya—opulence, Shruta—education, Shrivih—by the possesion of beauty, Edhamana—Progressively increasing, Madah—intoxication, Puman—the human being, Na—never, Eva—ever, Arhati—deserves, Bai—certainly, Abhidhatum-address in feeling, Twam—you, Akinchanagocharam—one who is approached easily by the materially exhausted man.
TRANSLATION
My Lord Your Lordship can easily be approached only by those who are actually materially exhausted men. Because nobody can address you in feeling who is on the path of progressive improvement in the matter of respectable parentage, great opulence, high education and attractive beauty.
PURPORT
Materially advanced, means to take birth in artistocratic family, to possess great wealth, to have high education and to possess attractive personal beauty. All materialistic men are mad after possessing all these material opulence and this is known as advancement of material civilisation. But the result is that by possessing all these material assets one becomes artificially puffed up intoxicated by such temporary possessions. Consequently such materially puffed up persons are incapable of uttering the holy Name of the Lord by addressing Him feelingly as Oh Govinda, Oh Krishna. It is said in the Shastras that by once uttering the holy Name of the Lord the sinner gets rid of such quantity of sins as he is unable to commit. Such is the power of uttering the holy Name of the Lord. There is not the least exaggeration in this statement. Actually the Lord's holy name has such powerful potency. But there is quality of such utterances also. It depends on the quality of feeling. A helpness man can feelingly utter the holy Name of the Lord whereas a man who utters the same holy Name in great material satisfaction cannot be of the same quality. Therefore, materially puffed up person may utter the holy Name of the Lord occassionally but he is incapable of uttering the Name in quality. Therefore, the four principles of material advancement of life namely, 1. high parentage, 2. good wealth, 3. high education, and 4. attractive beauty etc. are so to say disqualifications for progress on the path of spiritual advancement. Material covering of the pure spirit soul is an external feature as much as fever of the body is an external feature of the healthy body. The general process is to decrease the degree of the fever and not to aggravate it by maltreatment. Sometime it is seen that spiritually advanced persons become materially impoverished. This is no discouragement. On the other hand such improvement is good sign as much as going down of the degree of temparature is a good sign of curing the disease. The principle of life should be to decrease the degree of material intoxication which leads one to be more and more illusioned about the aim of life. Such grossly illusioned persons are quite unfit for entrance into the kingdom of God.