ग्रामकं नाम विषयं दुर्मदेन समन्वितः ॥५२॥
ÄsurÄ« nÄma paÅ›cÄd dvÄs
tayÄ yÄti purañjanaḥ
grÄmakaá¹ nÄma viá¹£ayaá¹
durmadena samanvitaḥ
ÄsurÄ« - of the name Ä€surÄ«; nÄma - called; paÅ›cÄt - on the western side; dvÄḥ - gate; tayÄ - by which; yÄti - used to go; purañjanaḥ - King Purañjana; grÄmakam - of the name GrÄmaka; nÄma - called; viá¹£ayam - the city of sense enjoyment; durmadena - by Durmada; samanvitaḥ - accompanied.
On the western side was a gate named Ä€surÄ«. Through that gate King Purañjana used to go to the city of GrÄmaka, accompanied by his friend Durmada.
The gate on the western side of the city was known as Ä€surÄ« because it was especially meant for the asuras. The word asura refers to those who are interested in sense gratification, specifically in sex life, to which they are overly attracted. Thus Purañjana, the living entity, enjoys himself to his greatest satisfaction by means of the genitals. Consequently he used to go to the place known as GrÄmaka. Material sense gratification is also called grÄmya, and the place where sex life is indulged in to a great extent is called GrÄmaka. When going to GrÄmaka, Purañjana used to be accompanied by his friend Durmada. The word viá¹£aya refers to the four bodily necessities of life — eating, sleeping, mating and defending. The word durmadena may be analyzed in this way: dur means duá¹£á¹a, or “sinful,†and mada means “madness.†Every living entity who is in contact with material nature is called mada, or mad. It is said:
piÅ›ÄcÄ« pÄile yena mati-cchanna haya
mÄyÄ-grasta jÄ«vera haya se bhÄva udaya
(Prema-vivarta)
When a person is haunted, he becomes practically insane. When one is in an insane condition, he speaks all kinds of nonsense. Thus to become engaged in sense gratification, one has to accept a friend who is durmada, or badly affected by the material disease.
The words ÄsurÄ« nÄma paÅ›cÄd dvÄḥ are significant in another sense. The sunrise is first visible from the eastern side — the Bay of Bengal — and gradually it progresses toward the west. It is practically experienced that people in the West are more addicted to sense gratification. ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu Himself has certified, paÅ›cimera loka saba mÅ«á¸ha anÄcÄra (Cc. Ä€di 10.89): the more one goes to the western side, the more he will find people disinterested in spiritual life. He will find them behaving against the Vedic standards. Because of this, people living in the West are more addicted to sense gratification. In this BhÄgavatam it is confirmed: ÄsurÄ« nÄma paÅ›cÄd dvÄḥ. In other words, the population on the western side is interested in an asuric civilization, that is, a materialistic way of life. Lord Caitanya consequently wanted this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement to be preached on the western side of the world so that people addicted to sense gratification might be benefited by His teachings.
