Yesterday we have been discussing the aim of life. That is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that kāmasya nendriya-prītiḥ. Kāma . . . Lābho jīveta yāvatā (SB 1.2.10). The purpose of life is not sense gratification. Kāmasya na indriya-prītiḥ. We have got this body and we have got some bodily demands, āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithuna, the bodily demands. We want to eat something, we want some resting place, we want to satisfy our senses, and we want to defend from dangers. These are bodily demands. But we should not be simply concerned with the bodily demands. Then we shall become on the level of animals. Our real demand is self-realization.
As it is stated in the Brahma-sūtra, athāto brahma jijñāsā, similarly, here it is advised:
- kāmasya na indriya-prītir
- lābho jīveta yāvatā
- jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā
- nārtho yaś ceha karmabhiḥ
- (SB 1.2.10)
This is very important verse for understanding the aim of life. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. Not that simply economic development for sense gratification. Tattva-jijñāsā. What is the value of life? That is the main business. (aside) Yes, you can translate. (break) . . . to give you one example of Sanātana Gosvāmī. Sanātana Gosvāmī, he was minister in the government of Nawab Hussain Shah. Somehow or other, he came in contact with Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and he decide to retire from government service and join the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement started by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu five hundred years ago.
About them it is said by one learned scholar, tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tucchavat. Because they were ministers, their association was with aristocratic family, big, big men. But he decided, tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīm. Maṇḍala-pati means leaders, social leaders, political leaders. So they gave up the company of the so-called aristocratic circle—tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tucchavat—as most insignificant. Bhūtvā dīna-gaṇeśakau karuṇayā kaupīna-kanthāśritau. Just to give real service to the mass of people, they became mendicant, kaupīna-kanthāśritau, or accepted the sannyāsa order. As Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted sannyāsa order, all the ācāryas—Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Viṣṇu Svāmī—they accepted for the greater benefit of the human society.
- tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tucchavat
- bhūtvā dīna-gaṇeśakau karuṇayā kaupīna-kanthāśritau
- gopī-bhāva-rasāmṛtābdhi-laharī-kallola-magnau sadā
- vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau
- (Śrī Ṣaḍ-gosvāmy-aṣṭaka 4)
So they gave up this life of luxury, exuberance, but adopted sannyāsa order for greater benefit of the human society.
So when Sanātana Gosvāmī approached Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to become His disciple, he inquired from Him, tattva-jijñāsā.