सङ्गो यदि स्याद्भगवत्प्रियेषु नः ।
यः प्राणवृत्त्या परितुष्ट आत्मवान्
सिद्ध्यत्यदूरान्न तथेन्द्रियप्रियः ॥१०॥
mÄgÄra-dÄrÄtmaja-vitta-bandhuá¹£u
saá¹…go yadi syÄd bhagavat-priyeá¹£u naḥ
yaḥ prÄṇa-vá¹›ttyÄ parituá¹£á¹a ÄtmavÄn
siddhyaty adÅ«rÄn na tathendriya-priyaḥ
mÄ - not; agÄra - house; dÄra - wife; Ätma-ja - children; vitta - bank balance; bandhuá¹£u - among friends and relatives; saá¹…gaḥ - association or attachment; yadi - if; syÄt - there must be; bhagavat-priyeá¹£u - among persons to whom the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very dear; naḥ - of us; yaḥ - anyone who; prÄṇa-vá¹›ttyÄ - by the bare necessities of life; parituá¹£á¹aḥ - satisfied; Ätma-vÄn - who has controlled his mind and realized his self; siddhyati - becomes successful; adÅ«rÄt - very soon; na - not; tathÄ - so much; indriya-priyaḥ - a person attached to sense gratification.
My dear Lord, we pray that we may never feel attraction for the prison of family life, consisting of home, wife, children, friends, bank balance, relatives and so on. If we do have some attachment, let it be for devotees, whose only dear friend is Kṛṣṇa. A person who is actually self-realized and who has controlled his mind is perfectly satisfied with the bare necessities of life. He does not try to gratify his senses. Such a person quickly advances in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whereas others, who are too attached to material things, find advancement very difficult.
When ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa Caitanya MahÄprabhu was requested to explain the duty of a Vaiṣṇava, a Kṛṣṇa conscious person, He immediately said, asat-saá¹…ga-tyÄga-ei vaiṣṇava-ÄcÄra. The first business of a Vaiṣṇava is to give up the association of persons who are not devotees of Kṛṣṇa and who are too attached to material things — wife, children, bank balance and so on. PrahlÄda MahÄrÄja also prays to the Personality of Godhead that he may avoid the association of nondevotees attached to the materialistic way of life. If he must be attached to someone, he prays to be attached only to a devotee.
A devotee is not interested in unnecessarily increasing the demands of the senses for gratification. Of course, as long as one is in this material world, one must have a material body, and it must be maintained for executing devotional service. The body can be maintained very easily by eating kṛṣṇa-prasÄda. As Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (9.26):
patraá¹ puá¹£paá¹ phalaá¹ toyaá¹
yo me bhaktyÄ prayacchati
tad ahaá¹ bhakty-upahá¹›tam
aÅ›nÄmi prayatÄtmanaḥ
“If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.†Why should the menu be unnecessarily increased for the satisfaction of the tongue? Devotees should eat as simply as possible. Otherwise, attachment for material things will gradually increase, and the senses, being very strong, will soon require more and more material enjoyment. Then the real business of life — to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness — will stop.
