स इत्थं भक्तियोगेन तपोयुक्तेन पार्थिवः ।
स्वधर्मेण हरिं प्रीणन् सर्वान् कामान्शनैर्जहौ ॥२६॥

sa itthaá¹ bhakti-yogena
tapo-yuktena pÄrthivaḥ
sva-dharmeṇa hariṠprīṇan
sarvÄn kÄmÄn Å›anair jahau

 saḥ - he (AmbarÄ«á¹£a MahÄrÄja); ittham - in this way; bhakti-yogena - by performing transcendental loving service to the Lord; tapaḥ-yuktena - which is simultaneously the best process of austerity; pÄrthivaḥ - the King; sva-dharmeṇa - by his constitutional activities; harim - unto the Supreme Lord; prīṇan - satisfying; sarvÄn - all varieties of; kÄmÄn - material desires; Å›anaiḥ - gradually; jahau - gave up.


Text

The king of this planet, MahÄrÄja AmbarÄ«á¹£a, thus performed devotional service to the Lord and in this endeavor practiced severe austerity. Always satisfying the Supreme Personality of Godhead by his constitutional activities, he gradually gave up all material desires.

Purport

Severe austerities in the practice of devotional service are of many varieties. For example, in worshiping the Deity in the temple there are certainly laborious activities. ÅšrÄ«-vigrahÄrÄdhana-nitya-nÄnÄ-śṛṅgÄra-tan-mandira-mÄrjanÄdau. One must decorate the Deity, cleanse the temple, bring water from the Ganges and YamunÄ, continue the routine work, perform Ärati many times, prepare first-class food for the Deity, prepare dresses and so on. In this way, one must constantly be engaged in various activities, and the hard labor involved is certainly an austerity. Similarly, the hard labor involved in preaching, preparing literature, preaching to atheistic men and distributing literature door to door is of course an austerity (tapo-yuktena). Tapo divyaá¹ putrakÄ. Such austerity is necessary. Yena sattvaá¹ Å›uddhyet. By such austerity in devotional service, one is purified of material existence (kÄmÄn Å›anair jahau). Indeed, such austerity leads one to the constitutional position of devotional service. In this way one can give up material desires, and as soon as one is freed from material desires, he is free from the repetition of birth and death, old age and disease.