SB 3.32.21
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 21
- tatas te kṣīṇa-sukṛtāḥ
- punar lokam imaṁ sati
- patanti vivaśā devaiḥ
- sadyo vibhraṁśitodayāḥ
SYNONYMS
tataḥ — then; te — they; kṣīṇa — exhausted; su-kṛtāḥ — results of their pious activities; punaḥ — again; lokam imam — to this planet; sati — O virtuous mother; patanti — fall; vivaśāḥ — helpless; devaiḥ — by higher arrangement; sadyaḥ — suddenly; vibhraṁśita — caused to fall; udayāḥ — their prosperity.
TRANSLATION
When the results of their pious activities are exhausted, they fall down by higher arrangement and again come back to this planet, just as any person raised to a high position sometimes all of a sudden falls.
PURPORT
It is sometimes found that a person elevated to a very high position in government service falls down all of a sudden, and no one can check him. Similarly, after finishing their period of enjoyment, foolish persons who are very much interested in being elevated to the position of president in higher planets also fall down to this planet. The distinction between the elevated position of a devotee and that of an ordinary person attracted to fruitive activities is that when a devotee is elevated to the spiritual kingdom he never falls down, whereas an ordinary person falls, even if he is elevated to the highest planetary system, Brahmaloka. It is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (8.16 ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ) that even if one is elevated to a higher planet, he has to come down again. But Kṛṣṇa confirms in Bhagavad-gītā (BG 8.16), mām upetya tu kaunteya punar janma na vidyate: "Anyone who attains My abode never comes back to this conditioned life of material existence."