गृहेष्ववस्थितो राजन्क्रियाः कुर्वन्यथोचिताः ।
वासुदेवार्पणं साक्षादुपासीत महामुनीन् ॥२॥
Å›rÄ«-nÄrada uvÄca
gá¹›heá¹£v avasthito rÄjan
kriyÄḥ kurvan yathocitÄḥ
vÄsudevÄrpaṇaá¹ sÄká¹£Äd
upÄsÄ«ta mahÄ-munÄ«n
Å›rÄ«-nÄradaḥ uvÄca - ÅšrÄ« NÄrada Muni replied; gá¹›heá¹£u - at home; avasthitaḥ - staying (a householder generally stays home with his wife and children); rÄjan - O King; kriyÄḥ - activities; kurvan - performing; yathocitÄḥ - suitable (as instructed by the guru and Å›Ästra); vÄsudeva - unto Lord VÄsudeva; arpaṇam - dedicating; sÄká¹£Ät - directly; upÄsÄ«ta - should worship; mahÄ-munÄ«n - the great devotees.
NÄrada Muni replied: My dear King, those who stay at home as householders must act to earn their livelihood, and instead of trying to enjoy the results of their work themselves, they should offer these results to Kṛṣṇa, VÄsudeva. How to satisfy VÄsudeva in this life can be perfectly understood through the association of great devotees of the Lord.
The format for gá¹›hastha life should be dedication to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (6.1) it is said:
anÄÅ›ritaḥ karma-phalaá¹
kÄryaá¹ karma karoti yaḥ
sa sannyÄsÄ« ca yogÄ« ca
na niragnir na cÄkriyaḥ
“One who is unattached to the fruits of his work and who works as he is obligated is in the renounced order of life, and he is the true mystic, not he who lights no fire and performs no work.†Whether one acts as a brahmacÄrÄ«, gá¹›hastha, vÄnaprastha or sannyÄsÄ«, he must act only for the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, VÄsudeva — Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vasudeva. This should be the principle for everyone’s life. NÄrada Muni has already described the principles of life for a brahmacÄrÄ«, vÄnaprastha and sannyÄsÄ«, and now he is describing how a gá¹›hastha should live. The basic principle is to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
The science of satisfying the Supreme Lord can be learned as described here: sÄká¹£Äd upÄsÄ«ta mahÄ-munÄ«n. The word mahÄ-munÄ«n refers to great saintly persons or devotees. Saintly persons are generally known as munis, or thoughtful philosophers concerned with transcendental subject matters, and mahÄ-munÄ«n refers to those who have not only thoroughly studied the goal of life but who are actually engaged in satisfying the Supreme Personality of Godhead, VÄsudeva. These persons are known as devotees. Unless one associates with devotees, one cannot learn the science of vÄsudevÄrpaṇa, or dedicating one’s life to VÄsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
In India the principles of this science were followed strictly. Even fifty years ago, I saw that in the villages of Bengal and the suburbs of Calcutta, people engaged in hearing ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam daily when all their activities ended, or at least in the evening before going to bed. Everyone would hear the BhÄgavatam. BhÄgavata classes were held in every village, and thus people had the advantage of hearing ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam, which describes everything about the aim of life — liberation or salvation. This will be clearly explained in the next verses.
