To become a very good man . . . just like an ideal good man was Gandhi. Or somebody else. We are giving, because Gandhi's respected all over the world as a very good man. That's a fact. But that is not sufficient. That is not sufficient. Therefore the śāstra says that you should become free from becoming a good man or bad man. You must become a devotee. That is required. To become a good man of this world is not a very good qualification.
Therefore it is said here, naṣṭa-prāyeṣu abhadreṣu. To become bad man . . . and if you become a good man, it is partially acceptable, because you have avoided the two other things, namely ignorance and passion. But that is not sufficient. But it is favorable. To become a good man, to become a brāhmin, is favorable. Because to . . . by becoming a brāhmin, one is able to understand things as they are. He's not in ignorance.
Just like a ignorant, a cats and dogs, they are under the bodily concept of life: "I am this body." But a brāhmin is not in the bodily concept of life. He knows, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, "I am part and parcel of Brahman." This knowledge will help him. And here it is said that ce . . . tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ . . . (SB 1.2.19): so long one is influenced by the modes of ignorance and passion, he is busy in greediness and lusty affairs.
So at least he's free from the lusty desires and greediness. The whole world is working, especially in Western countries, you see, they are working so hard. They have got their nice motorcar, nice roads, and very, very nice ways also, flyover, one road is flying over another road, another road, another road. Very good facility for driving motorcar, and they have got enough motorcar also.
Every third man has got a car. But what are these civilization? Kāma and lobha, lustiness and greediness. That's all. The basic principle is lust and greediness. That's all. This is their qualification. So anyone who has become free from this lusty and greedy status of life, he's advanced. He's advanced. Kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye. Because these lusty desires and greediness will not help him at any time to realize his self or to realize God. That will not be helpful.
So at least if he comes to the platform of goodness, sattva-guṇa, then he can at least understand that, "I am not this body; I am spirit soul. My duty is different from these bodily activities." Brahmā-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). The lusty and greediness keeps one always in lamentation and hankering. Na śocati na kāṅkṣ . . . na kāṅkṣati. Akāṅkṣā. These people, they have no end of their akāṅkṣā, hankering—one after another, one after another, one after a . . . sarva-kāma. In the śāstra they are called sarva-kāma. There is no end of their lusty desires.
So naṣṭa-prāyeṣu abhadreṣu. By the hearing process, one becomes gradually free from the lusty and greedy platform, and he comes to the platform of knowledge. And at that time he can understand at least that, "I am not this body. I am spirit soul. And what is my duty as spirit soul?" That duty, if he understands, that is, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām (BG 18.54). That is the duty.
When he comes to this platform that, "My duty is to execute devotional service," that is required. He comes to the platform. Or at least, in between sattva-guṇa and śuddha-sattva. Sattva, sattva-guṇa, without being contaminated by the other two guṇas, modes of nature, namely, ignorance and passion. Pure. That is devotional stage.
So tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye (SB 1.2.19), if we can come to that platform, śuddha-sattva . . . sattvaṁ viśuddham. Sattvaṁ viśuddham. When we, our existence becomes completely purified from the influence of these material qualities—the beginning is the modes of goodness—then at that platform, at least, the other lower-grade modes, namely passion and ignorance, cannot attack us. Ceta etair anāviddham.