kṛṣṇa-viá¹£ayaka premÄ — parama puruá¹£Ärtha
yÄra Äge tṛṇa-tulya cÄri puruá¹£Ärtha
kṛṣṇa-viá¹£ayaka - in the subject of Kṛṣṇa; premÄ - love; parama - the highest; puruá¹£a-artha - achievement of the goal of life; yÄra - whose; Äge - before; tṛṇa-tulya - like the grass in the street; cÄri - four; puruá¹£a-artha - achievements.
“ ‘Religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation are known as the four goals of life, but before love of Godhead, the fifth and highest goal, these appear as insignificant as straw in the street.
While chanting the holy name of the Lord, one should not desire the material advancements represented by religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and ultimately liberation from the material world. As stated by Caitanya MahÄprabhu, the highest perfection in life is to develop one’s love for Kṛṣṇa (premÄ pum-artho mahÄn Å›rÄ«-caitanya-mahÄprabhor matam idam). When we compare love of Godhead with religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation, we can understand that these achievements may be desirable objectives for bubhuká¹£us, or those who desire to enjoy this material world, and mumuká¹£us, or those who desire liberation from it, but they are very insignificant in the eyes of a pure devotee who has developed bhÄva, the preliminary stage of love of Godhead.
Dharma (religiosity), artha (economic development), kÄma (sense gratification) and moká¹£a (liberation) are the four principles of religion that pertain to the material world. Therefore in the beginning of ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam it is declared, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ’tra: cheating religious systems in terms of these four material principles are completely discarded from ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam, for ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam teaches only how to develop one’s dormant love of God. The Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ is the preliminary study of ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam, and therefore it ends with the words sarva-dharmÄn parityajya mÄm ekaá¹ Å›araṇaá¹ vraja: “Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me.†(Bg. 18.66) To adopt this means, one should reject all ideas of religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation and fully engage in the service of the Lord, which is transcendental to these four principles. Love of Godhead is the original function of the spirit soul, and it is as eternal as the soul and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This eternity is called sanÄtana. When a devotee revives his loving service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it should be understood that he has been successful in achieving the desired goal of his life. At that time everything is automatically done by the mercy of the holy name, and the devotee automatically advances in his spiritual progress.
