SB 1.8.27 (1964)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 27
Namo akinchnavittaya nirbritta guna brittaye Atma ramaya santaya kaivalyapataye namah.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Namo—all obeisances unto You, Akinchanavittaya—unto the property of the materially impoverished, Nirbritta—completely transcendental to the actions of material modes, Guna—material modes, Britti—affection, Atmaramaya—one who is self satisfied, Santaya—the most gentle, Kaivalyapataye—unto the master of the monist, namah—bowing down.
TRANSLATION
My obeisances are unto You who is the property of the materially impoverished and one who has nothing to do with the actions and reactions of the material modes of nature. You are self satisfied and therefore You are the most gentle and master of the monists.
PURPORT
A living being is finished as soon as there is nothing to possess by him. Therefore a living being cannot be in the real sense of the term a renouncer. A living being renounces something for gaining something more valuable. A student sacrificies his childish proclivities for gaining better education. A servant gives up his job for a better job. Similarly a devotee renounce the material world not for nothing but for something tangible in spiritual value. Srila Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami or Srila Raghunath Goswami and others all gave up their worldly pomp and prosperity for the sake of the service of the Lord. They were big men in the worldly sense. The Goswamins were ministers in the then Government service of Bengal and Srila Das Goswami was the son of a big Zamindar of his time. But they left everything not to be loser but to gain far superior than what they previously possessed. The devotees are generally without any material prosperity but they have very secret treasure house in the lotus feet of the Lord. There is a nice story about Srila Sanatan Goswami. He had a touch-stone with him and this stone was left with the stack of refuse. A needy man came to ask him for the touch-stone and he asked him to take it from the stack of the refuse. The needy man took it but later on thought why the valuable stone was kept is such neglected place. He asked therefore for the most valuable thing from him and then he was given the Holy Name of the Lord. Akin chana means one who has nothing to give materially. A factual devotee or the Mahatma does not give anything material to anyone because such devotee has had already left all material asset. He can however deliver the Supreme asset namely the Personality of Godhead because He is the only property of a factual devotee. The touchstone of Sanatan Goswami which was thrown with the rubbish and refuse was not the property of the Goswami otherwise it would not have been kept in such negligible place. This specific example is set for the neophyte devotees just to convince them that material hankerings and spiritual advancement go ill together. Unless one is not apt to see everything spiritual in relation with the Supreme Lord, one must always distinguish spirit and matter differently. A spiritual master like Srila Sanatan Goswami although he was personally apt to view everything spiritual, he set this example for us only because we have no such spiritual vision.
Advancement of material vision of life or material civilization is a great stumbling block for spiritual advancement. Such material advancement by life entangles the living being more in the bondage of material body followed by all sorts of material miseries. Such material advancement of life is called Anarthas or things not wanted. Actually this is so. In the present context of material advancement of life one has become apt to use lipstick at a cost of Rs. 20/- and there are so many unwanted things which are all products of material conception of life. By diverting attention in the matter of so many unwanted things the human energy is spoiled without any achievement of spiritual realisation the prime necessity of the human life. The attempt to reach moon planet by material carrier, is the summit of material education is another set of spoiling energy because even if the moon planet is reached that will not solve the problems of life. The devotees of the Lord are called Akinchanas because they have practically no material assets. Such material assets are all products of the three modes of material nature for foiling the spiritual energy and as such the less we possess such products of the material nature, the more we have good chance for spiritual progress.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead has no direct connection with material activities. All His acts and deeds which are exhibited even in this material world are also spiritual or without any affection of the modes of material qualities. In the Bhagwat Geeta the Lord says that all His acts even His appearance and disappearance in and out of the material world are all transcendental and one who may know this in perfect order shall not take his birth again in this material world but he would go back to Godhead.
The material disease is the hankering after lording it over the material nature. This hankering after material nature is due to an interaction of the three modes of nature and both the Lord and the devotees have no attachment for such false enjoyment. Therefore, the Lord as well as the devotees are called Nibrittaguna britti. The perfect nibrittiagunabritti is the Supreme Lord because never He becomes attracted by the modes of material nature whereas the living beings have such tendency potentially. Some of them are entrapped by the illusory attraction of material nature.
Because the Lord is the property of the devotees and the devotees are the property of the Lord reciprocally therefore the devotees are certainly transcendental to the modes of material nature. That is a natural conclusion. Such unalloyed devotees are distinct from the mixed devotees who approach the Lord for mitigation of miseries, poverty, inquisitiveness and speculation on emperic philosophy. The unalloyed devotees and the Lord are transcendentally attached with one another. For others the Lord has nothing to reciprocate and therefore He is called Atmarama self satisfied. Self satisfied as He is so He is the Master of all monist seeking merging in the existence of the Lord. Such monist certainly merges within the personal effulgence of the Lord called the Brahma Yoti but the devotees unalloyed enters into the transcendental pastimes of the Lord which are never to be misunderstood as material activity.