Pearls of wisdom - 129

Lord Rishabhdev:

O My sons, you should accept a highly elevated paramahamsa, a spiritually advanced spiritual master. In this way, you should place your faith and love in Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. You should detest sense gratification and tolerate the duality of pleasure and pain, which are like the seasonal changes of summer and winter. Try to realize the miserable condition of living entities, who are miserable even in the higher planetary systems. Philosophically inquire about the truth. Then undergo all kinds of austerities and penances for the sake of devotional service. Give up the endeavor for sense enjoyment and engage in the service of the Lord. Listen to discussions about the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and always associate with devotees. Chant about and glorify the Supreme Lord, and look upon everyone equally on the spiritual platform. Give up enmity and subdue anger and lamentation. Abandon identifying the self with the body and the home, and practice reading the revealed scriptures. Live in a secluded place and practice the process by which you can completely control your life air, mind and senses. Have full faith in the revealed scriptures, the Vedic literatures. Perform your prescribed duties and avoid unnecessary talks. Always thinking of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, acquire knowledge from the right source. Thus practicing bhakti-yoga, you will patiently and enthusiastically be elevated in knowledge and will be able to give up the false ego.

Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 5 Verses 10-13

Pearls of wisdom - 128

As long as one does not inquire about the spiritual values of life, one is defeated and subjected to miseries arising from ignorance. Be it sinful or pious, karma has its resultant actions. If a person is engaged in any kind of karma, his mind is called karmâtmaka, colored with fruitive activity. As long as the mind is impure, consciousness is unclear, and as long as one is absorbed in fruitive activity, he has to accept a material body.

Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 5 Verse 5

Pearls of wisdom - 127

When a person considers sense gratification the aim of life, he certainly becomes mad after materialistic living and engages in all kinds of sinful activity. He does not know that due to his past misdeeds he has already received a body which, although temporary, is the cause of his misery. Actually the living entity should not have taken on a material body, but he has been awarded the material body for sense gratification. Therefore it is not befitting an intelligent man to involve himself again in the activities of sense gratification by which he perpetually gets material bodies one after another.

Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 5 Verse 4

Pearls of wisdom - 126

One can attain the path of liberation from material bondage only by rendering service to highly advanced spiritual personalities. Whether one wants to merge into the Lord's existence or wants to associate with the Personality of Godhead, one should render service to the mahâtmâs. For those who are not interested in such activities, who associate with people fond of women and sex, the path to hell is wide open. The mahâtmâs are equipoised. They do not see any difference between one living entity and another. They are very peaceful and are fully engaged in devotional service. They are devoid of anger, and they work for the benefit of everyone. They do not behave in any abominable way. Such people are known as mahâtmâs.

Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 5 Verse 2

Pearls of wisdom - 125

Lord Rishabhadeva told His sons: My dear boys, of all the living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, one who has been awarded this human form should not work hard day and night simply for sense gratification, which is available even for dogs and hogs that eat stool. One should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional service. By such activity, one's heart is purified, and when one attains this position, he attains eternal, blissful life, which is transcendental to material happiness and which continues forever.

Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 5 Verse 1

Pearls of wisdom - 124

No one likes to possess anything that is like a will-o'-the-wisp or a flower in the sky, for everyone knows very well that such things do not exist. When Lord Rishabhadeva ruled this planet of Bhâratavarsha, even common men did not want to ask for anything, at any time or by any means. No one ever asks for a will-o'-the-wisp. In other words, everyone was completely satisfied, and therefore there was no chance of anyone's asking for anything. The people were absorbed in great affection for the King. Since this affection was always expanding, they were not inclined to ask for anything.

Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 4 Verse 15

Pearls of wisdom - 123

Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow.

Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 4 Verse 15

Pearls of wisdom - 122

Being an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Rishabhadeva was fully independent because His form was spiritual, eternal and full of transcendental bliss. He eternally had nothing to do with the four principles of material misery [birth, death, old age and disease]. Nor was He materially attached. He was always equipoised, and He saw everyone on the same level. He was unhappy to see others unhappy, and He was the well-wisher of all living entities. Although He was a perfect personality, the Supreme Lord and controller of all, He nonetheless acted as if He were an ordinary conditioned soul. Therefore He strictly followed the principles of varnâs'rama-dharma and acted accordingly. In due course of time, the principles of varnâs'rama-dharma had become neglected; therefore through His personal characteristics and behavior, He taught the ignorant public how to perform duties within the varnâs'rama-dharma. In this way He regulated the general populace in householder life, enabling them to develop religion and economic well-being and to attain reputations, sons and daughters, material pleasure and finally eternal life. By His instructions, He showed how people could remain householders and at the same time become perfect by following the principles of varnâs'rama-dharma.

Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 4 Verse 14

Pearls of wisdom - 121

Dear Lord, unless one worships the lotus feet of great devotees, one will be conquered by the illusory energy, and his intelligence will be bewildered. Indeed, who has not been carried away by the waves of material enjoyment, which are like poison? Your illusory energy is unconquerable. No one can see the path of this material energy or tell how it is working.

Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 3 Verse 14

Pearls of wisdom - 120

Dear Lord, we may not be able to remember Your name, form and qualities due to stumbling, hunger, falling down, yawning or being in a miserable diseased condition at the time of death. We therefore pray unto You, O Lord, for You are very affectionate to Your devotees. Please help us remember You and utter Your holy names, attributes and activities, which can dispel all the reactions of our sinful lives.

Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 3 Verse 12

Pearls of wisdom - 119

Dear Lord, all the great sages who are thoughtful and saintly persons incessantly recount Your spiritual qualities. These sages have already burned up all the unlimited dirty things and, by the fire of knowledge, strengthened their detachment from the material world. Thus they have attained Your qualities and are self-satisfied. Yet even for those who feel spiritual bliss in chanting Your attributes, Your personal presence is very rare.

Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 3 Verse 11

Pearls of wisdom - 118

The priests to Lord Vishnu:

O Lord of lords, we are completely ignorant of the execution of dharma, artha, kâma and moksha, the process of liberation, because we do not actually know the goal of life. You have appeared personally before us like a person soliciting worship, but actually You are present here just so we can see You. You have come out of Your abundant and causeless mercy in order to serve our purpose, our interest, and give us the benefit of Your personal glory called apavarga, liberation. You have come, although You are not properly worshiped by us due to our ignorance.

Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 3 Verse 9

Pearls of wisdom - 117

Lord Vishnu appeared before King Nâbhi with four arms. He was very bright, and He appeared to be the best of all personalities. Around the lower portion of His body, He wore a yellow silken garment. On His chest was the mark of S'rîvatsa, which always displays beauty. He carried a conchshell, lotus flower, disc and club, and He wore a garland of forest flowers and the Kaustubha gem. He was beautifully decorated with a helmet, earrings, bangles, belt, pearl necklace, armlets, ankle bells and other bodily ornaments bedecked with radiant jewels.

Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 3 Verse 3

Pearls of wisdom - 116

In the performance of a sacrifice, there are seven transcendental means to obtain the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead:. (1) by sacrificing valuable things or eatables,. (2) by acting in terms of place,. (3) by acting in terms of time,. (4) by offering hymns,. (5) by going through the priest,. (6) by offering gifts to the priests and. (7) by observing the regulative principles. However, one cannot always obtain the Supreme Lord through this paraphernalia. Nonetheless, the Lord is affectionate to His devotee; therefore when Mahârâja Nâbhi, who was a devotee, worshiped and offered prayers to the Lord with great faith and devotion and with a pure uncontaminated mind, superficially performing some yajña in the line of pravargya, the kind Supreme Personality of Godhead, due to His affection for His devotees, appeared before King Nâbhi in His unconquerable and captivating form with four hands. In this way, to fulfill the desire of His devotee, the Supreme Personality of Godhead manifested Himself in His beautiful body before His devotee. This body pleases the mind and eyes of the devotees.

Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 3 Verse 2

Pearls of wisdom - 115

A devotee who has taken shelter of the dust from the lotus feet of the Lord can transcend the influence of the six material whips--namely hunger, thirst, lamentation, illusion, old age and death--and he can conquer the mind and five senses. However, this is not very wonderful for a pure devotee of the Lord because even a person beyond the jurisdiction of the four varnas--in other words, an untouchable--is immediately relieved of bondage to material existence if he utters the holy name of the Lord even once.

Srimad Bhagavatm - Canto 5 Chapter 1 Verse 35

Pearls of wisdom - 114

One who is situated in household life and who systematically conquers his mind and five sense organs is like a king in his fortress who conquers his powerful enemies. After one has been trained in household life and his lusty desires have decreased, he can move anywhere without danger.

Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 1 Verse 18

Pearls of wisdom - 113

Even if he goes from forest to forest, one who is not self-controlled must always fear material bondage because he is living with six co-wives--the mind and knowledge-acquiring senses. Even householder life, however, cannot harm a self-satisfied, learned man who has conquered his senses.

Srimad Bhagavatam - Canto 5 Chapter 1 Verse 17