Pradyumna: "Translation: Those who are interested in reviving Kṛṣṇa consciousness and increasing their love of Godhead do not like to do anything that is not related to Kṛṣṇa. They are not interested in mingling with people who are busy maintaining their bodies, eating, sleeping mating and defending. They are not attached to their homes, although they may be householders. Nor are they attached to wives, children, friends or wealth. At the same time, they are not indifferent to the execution of their duties. Such people are interested in collecting only enough money to keep the body and soul together."
Prabhupāda:
- ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā
- janeṣu dehambhara-vārtikeṣu
- gṛheṣu jāyātmaja-rātimatsu
- na prīti-yuktā yāvad-arthāś ca loke
- (SB 5.5.3)
So the recommendation is that if you want to go back home, back to Godhead, divyam, so you have to practice austerities, penance. That austerity and penance is according to the age, deśa, kāla, patra. Not that... Just like in the common law also, if a grown-up man commits some theft, he is punished more. And if a child or a boy commits theft, he is not so much punished. So there is consideration of deśa kāla patra. In the Kali-yuga people cannot undergo very severe austerities. That is impossible for them, because mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ (SB 1.1.10). They are already very much suppressed and suffering because they are all unfortunate, manda-bhāgyā. Mostly people, they have no provision for eating either today or tomorrow. Manda-bhāgyā. There is no sufficient grains. Formerly even in the villages you would see that a common man has very good stock of foodgrains and cows, dhanvena dhanavan, gavaya dhanavan. Formerly the standard of richness was considered how many morai, the bank, what is called? Where grain is stocked? Silo. So in India it is called morai, grain stock. And how many cows one has got in stock. Then he is rich man. Nowadays how much paper money he has got. Actually it has no value. Suppose you have got some papers. Each paper it is written there "one thousand dollars." But if there is no grain, what will this one-thousand-dollars paper will do? It actually so happened in the last war in Germany. Their money was thrown in the street. Nobody cared to take it, because it has no exchange. So long the paper money you can exchange, there is value. Otherwise it is paper only. But if you have got actual commodity—grains and cows—then you can eat in any circumstances. Never mind war is going on; you don't care. You get sufficient food. What you will do with the paper money? So this paper currency is useless. If the things are going on nicely it has value, but in times of crisis it has no value.
So here it is description is given that we are recommended to make association with mahat-sevā just to get liberation. Mahat-sevā. And who is mahātmā? That is being described. In the first... Mahāntas te. They are mahātmā. What is the symptom? In the śāstra we'll find not by one symptom, that one has got saffron cloth or big beard, then he is mahātmā. No. There are other symptoms. Just like brāhmaṇa. In the Kali-yuga brāhmaṇa means one two-paisa thread, that's all. But that is not brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa means śamo damo titikṣva. These are the symptoms. Similarly, mahātmā does not mean a dress. But people have taken advantage of this dress, veśopajivibhiḥ (?). In India still, although poverty-stricken, if a person, simply by dressing in saffron cloth goes to a village, he has no problem. Everyone will call him, invite him, give him shelter, give him food. Still, (Hindi: "Sir, come here. Take prasada.") Everyone will ask. Poor people have taken advantage of it. Without any education, without any..., they take it for solving economic problems. Here also in Vṛndāvana you'll find so many people have come here because there are many chatras. You can get free capati, dahl. You'll find in the morning so many wretched class. They have come to Vṛndāvana just for this bread and dahl. And they collect and they exchange. They purchase bidi.
So everything, in Kali-yuga, everything is being misused. But śāstra has given us direction who is brāhmaṇa, who is mahātmā. So here one type of mahātmā is given: mahāntas te sama-cittāḥ. They are equal. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. That is mahātmā. He has realized, Brahman realized, so he has no discrimination, either man to man or man to animal.