In material existence, four things are very valuable: to be born in a decent family, to be very rich, to be very learned and to be very beautiful. These are considered to be material assets. Unfortunately, without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, these material assets sometimes become sources of sin and degradation. Despite Vidyādhara's being a demigod and having a beautiful body, he was condemned to the body of a snake due to pride. Therefore from this incident we can learn that those who are too proud of their material assets or who are inimical toward others are degraded to the bodies of snakes. A snake is considered to be the most cruel and envious living entity, but those who are human beings and are envious of others are considered to be even more vicious than snakes. The snake can be charmed or controlled by mantras and herbs, but a person who is envious cannot be controlled by anyone.
Material assets
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 1
The Lord, being thus unapproachable by any material assets, out of unbounded and causeless mercy descends on the earth as He is in order to show His special mercy upon His unalloyed devotees and to diminish the upsurges of the demoniac persons.
Being materially advanced means taking birth in an aristocratic family and possessing great wealth, an education and attractive personal beauty. All materialistic men are mad after possessing all these material opulences, and this is known as the advancement of material civilization. But the result is that by possessing all these material assets one becomes artificially puffed up, intoxicated by such temporary possessions.
A factual devotee, or mahātmā, does not give anything material to anyone because he has already left all material assets. He can, however, deliver the supreme asset, namely the Personality of Godhead, because He is the only property of a factual devotee.
The devotees of the Lord are called akiñcanas because they have practically no material assets. Such material assets are all products of the three modes of material nature. They foil spiritual energy, and thus the less we possess such products of material nature, the more we have a good chance for spiritual progress.
As a government servant is always the same, either in the office or at home or at any place, so a devotee has nothing to do with anything material, for he is exclusively engaged in the transcendental service of the Lord. Since he has nothing to do with anything material, what pleasure can he derive from material benedictions like kingship or other overlordships, which are finished quickly with the end of the body? Devotional service is eternal; it has no end, because it is spiritual. Therefore, since the assets of a pure devotee are completely different from material assets, there is no comparison between the two.
Mahārāja Parīkṣit was a great devotee of the Lord and a bona fide candidate for entering into the kingdom of God, but even though he was so, his material assets as the Emperor of the world were setbacks to perfect attainment of his rightful status as one of the associates of the Lord in the spiritual sky.
SB Canto 2
A human being is required to accumulate daivī sampat, or spiritual assets; otherwise, the next alternative, āsurī sampat, or material assets, will overcome him disproportionately, and thus one will be forced into the entanglement of different miseries of the material world.
To maintain all the household affairs, one has to increase the bank balance and be careful about the treasury house, and in order to display the opulence of material assets, one has to keep good relations with friends and relatives, as well as become very careful about maintaining the status quo.
SB Canto 3
One should be intelligent enough to know how to utilize material assets for the purpose of spiritual realization. That is called karma-yoga or jñāna-yoga. Whatever we have we should use as service to the Supreme Person.
When a man is sleeping, all his material assets—namely the vital energy, the senses for recording knowledge, the senses for working, the mind and the intelligence—cannot arouse him. He can be aroused only when the Supersoul helps him."
A living entity who, as a result of attachment to a woman in his previous life, has been endowed with the form of a woman, foolishly looks upon māyā in the form of a man, her husband, as the bestower of wealth, progeny, house and other material assets.
SB Canto 4
Milk is a very nice food, but when milk is touched by an envious serpent it becomes poisonous. Similarly, material assets such as education, wealth, beauty and good parentage are undoubtedly nice, but when they decorate persons of a malicious nature, then they act adversely.
Although Dakṣa was qualified by many material assets, because he was proud of his possessions and because he was envious, all those qualities were polluted. It is sometimes, therefore, detrimental for a person advancing in spiritual consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to possess such material assets.
Material exhaustion is an advantage for advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, although if one is conscious of his eternal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one can utilize one's material assets, such as great learning and beauty and exalted ancestry, for the service of the Lord; then such assets become glorious.
Unless situated by the side of the Supreme One, zero is always zero; one may add one hundred zeros, but the value will still remain zero. Unless one's material assets are used in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they may play havoc and degrade the possessor.
SB Canto 6
Those who think material assets to be everything or to be the ultimate goal of life are called misers (kṛpaṇas). They do not know the ultimate necessity of the soul. Moreover, if one awards that which is desired by such fools, he must also be considered foolish."
In spite of the material assets of janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrī (SB 1.8.26) birth in an aristocratic family with full opulence, wealth, education and beauty—he was very much aggrieved because in spite of having so many wives, he had no son.
SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)
To a devotee who lacks spiritual insight, the Supreme Lord will not grant the wonderful opulences of this world-kingly power and material assets. Indeed, in His infinite wisdom the unborn Lord well knows how the intoxication of pride can cause the downfall of the wealthy."
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
Modern materialistic civilization, however, is maintaining a diseased atmosphere. The living being is a spiritual spark, as spiritual as the Lord Himself. The only difference is that the Lord is great and the living being is small. Qualitatively they are one, but quantitatively they are different. Therefore, since the living being is spiritual in constitution, he can be happy only in the spiritual sky, where there are unlimited spiritual spheres called Vaikuṇṭhas. A spiritual being conditioned by a material body must therefore try to get rid of his disease instead of developing the cause of the disease.
Foolish persons engrossed in their material assets are unnecessarily proud of being leaders of the people, but they ignore the spiritual value of man. Such illusioned leaders make plans covering any number of years, but they can hardly make humanity happy in a state conditioned by the threefold miseries inflicted by material nature. One cannot control the laws of nature by any amount of struggling. One must at last be subject to death, nature's ultimate law. Death, birth, old age and illness are symptoms of the diseased condition of the living being. The highest aim of human life should therefore be to get free from these miseries and go back home, back to Godhead.
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, at the time of his departure, requested all his disciples to form a governing body and conduct missionary activities cooperatively. He did not instruct a particular man to become the next ācārya. But just after his passing away, his leading secretaries made plans, without authority, to occupy the post of ācārya, and they split into two factions over who the next ācārya would be. Consequently, both factions were asāra, or useless, because they had no authority, having disobeyed the order of the spiritual master. Despite the spiritual master's order to form a governing body and execute the missionary activities of the Gauḍīya Maṭha, the two unauthorized factions began litigation that is still going on after forty years with no decision.
Therefore, we do not belong to any faction. But because the two parties, busy dividing the material assets of the Gauḍīya Maṭha institution, stopped the preaching work, we took up the mission of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura to preach the cult of Caitanya Mahāprabhu all over the world, under the protection of all the predecessor ācāryas, and we find that our humble attempt has been successful. We followed the principles especially explained by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura in his commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā verse beginning vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana (BG 2.41). According to this instruction of Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, it is the duty of a disciple to follow strictly the orders of his spiritual master. The secret of success in advancement in spiritual life is the firm faith of the disciple in the orders of his spiritual master.
CC Madhya-lila
A pure devotee who has firm faith in the words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is to be considered a most learned scholar, the topmost aristocrat and the richest man in the whole world. All godly qualities automatically exist in such a devotee. In the preaching work of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, we, as the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, fully believe in the words of Kṛṣṇa and His servants, the disciplic succession (CC Madhya 13.80). In this way we are presenting the words of Kṛṣṇa throughout the world. Even though we are neither a rich man nor a very learned scholar, and even though we do not belong to any aristocracy, this movement is still being welcomed and is very easily spreading all over the world. Although we are very poor and have no professional source of income, Kṛṣṇa supplies money whenever we need it. Whenever we need some men, Kṛṣṇa supplies them. Thus it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (6.22): yaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ. Actually, if we can attain the favor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, we do not need anything else. We certainly do not need those things which a mundane person considers to be material assets.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
Light of the Bhagavata
When the same man was as dry as fallow land and had none of these opulences, he was plain in behavior, but since obtaining all these material means of enjoyment he has forgotten the principle that everything in the world comes and goes away like the changing seasons. The beautiful Red Fort and the Taj Mahal were built by Shah Jahan, who left the place long ago, and many others have also come and gone in the same place, like seasonal flowers. Material assets are like seasonal flowers only. Either the flowers wither, or the gardener himself leaves. This is the law of nature. Therefore, if we want permanent life, knowledge, and bliss, we must seek them somewhere else, not in the changeable, temporary rainy season, which is flooded with so many varieties of pleasing sights that vanish when the season ends.
Mukunda-mala-stotra (mantras 1 to 6 only)
The Lord expertly removes the shroud of illusion for the neophyte devotee by depriving him of his material assets, and thus the devotee finds himself alone in the midst of his so-called relatives. In this helpless condition he experiences the awkwardness of his so-called relationships with his so-called wife and children. When a man is financially ruined, no one loves him, not even his wife or children. Such a poverty-stricken devotee more perfectly fixes his faith in the Lord, and the Lord then delivers him from the fate of frustration.
To be saved from this faulty association, King Kulaśekhara prays fervently to the Lord that he may never forget His lotus feet in any future birth. A devotee who perfects his devotional service certainly goes back to Godhead without a doubt, so for him there is no question of birth or death. And, as mentioned above, a devotee who does not achieve complete perfection is guaranteed to take his birth in a learned and well-to-do family. But even if a devotee is not given the advantage of good parentage, if he can attain the benediction of always remembering the lotus feet of the Lord, that is greater than any number of material assets. Constant remembrance of the Lord's name, fame, qualities, and so on automatically nullifies the reactions of all vices and invokes the blessings of the Lord. This constant remembrance of the lotus feet of the Lord is possible only when one engages in His active service.
A pure devotee therefore never asks the Lord for wealth, followers, or even a beautiful wife. He simply prays for uninterrupted engagement in the Lord's service. That should be the motto of life for all prospective students in devotional service.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Once begun, transcendental life, spiritual life or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it will never be stopped. You can finish it even some percentage, you have to begin again from that point to further advancement. That is the... That means spiritual asset is never lost. Material asset is lost with this body. As soon as we change our body, whatever we are acquiring materially in this world, house, business, bank balance, field(?), reputation, education, this will be all finished just with the end of this body.
Take for example that we sometimes worship our past leaders. In your country, George Washington, or in our country, Gandhi or somebody else. But this is false because you do not know where is that gentleman Washington has gone. We are simply worshiping a shadow. A photograph, a statue. But we do not know where is actually that spirit soul, his transmigration of the soul. The soul goes to another body and we foolishly worship the dead body, which is useless. This is called bhūtejyā. In Sanskrit language it is called bhūtejyā. Ghost worship. Yānti bhūtāni bhūtejyā. So this is only sentiment. But because all the name, fame, assets materially gained, it ends with that body, it remains with that body. Now you have to begin another body according to your own karma. But the spiritual effect which you acquire, that goes with you. Because you are spirit, it goes with the spirit. And the material asset left with this material...
They do not know. Foolish people, they do not know.
So if anyone, either in distressed condition or in poverty-stricken, if he goes to God and just like the same determination like Dhruva, that "I must see God and take this benediction from God," and if he happens to God..., see God, if he understands God, then he is, he no more, no more wants to have anything material. He understands that "All this material nonsense is foolishness. I have got the real thing." Yaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ: "Which gaining," you'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā, "when one actually in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he does not want anything." Just like Dhruva Mahārāja. Svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce: (CC Madhya 22.42) "My dear Lord, I am fully satisfied. I don't want anything. I have no distress. I am not poverty-stricken. I am the wealthiest. There is no comparison of my assets." That position he comes to.
Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that udārāḥ: "They are also good, because gradually they will come to this understanding." Because a jñānī knows that "What are these material things? They are only flickering, flickering. Suppose I get too much wealth and too much everything. What is this mighty lābha?" Lābha, pūjā, pratiṣṭhā. These material assets are three. Something, I want some gain out of my work, profit. And pūjā. Pūjā means people will adore me: "Oh, you are such a rich man. You are so great man." Lābha, pūjā, and pratiṣṭhā, and fame: "People may know me that 'I am Carnegie,' 'I am Rockefeller,' 'I am Birla.' " But he does not know that Birla or Rockefeller is this body.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So this is the instance, that we may be very powerful so long Kṛṣṇa keeps us powerful. We are not independently powerful, even in the case of Arjuna. We are very much proud of our janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrīḥ (SB 1.8.26). The material world, everyone is very much proud of his birth, riches, education and beauty. Beauty. These four things are obtained as result of pious activities. And as a result of impious activities, the opposite number. Not birth in a very nice family or nation, no wealth, poverty, no education and no beauty. But one should know that these assets, material assets... Just like you American people. You have got nice assets. You are born of a very respectful nation-American nations are still honored all over the world. So that's a good opportunity for you, janma. You are born in... Every American is... In comparison to India, every American is rich man, because any ordinary man earns here at least four thousand, five thousand rupees. And in India, even the high-court judge, he cannot earn so. Utmost four thousand. So you should be conscious that by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, you have got all these things. There is no poverty, there is no scarcity, there is good chance of education, and you are wealthy, beautiful, everything. Janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrīḥ. But if you do not become Kṛṣṇa conscious, if you misuse these assets, then again punar mūṣiko bhava.
Prabhupāda: So superficially, Mahārāja Parīkṣit, king, the emperor of the world, he was cursed to death. A brāhmaṇa boy cursed him that "You will die within seven days." And as a result of this, he left his home, his kingdom, and here, next verse, it is said, ātma-jāyā. Jāyā means his one wife. He was young man. Suta, children; āgāra, āgāra means residence, house. Ātma-jāyā-sutāgāra. Paśu, animals. He was king. So he had many animals: horses, elephants, cows, bulls. These are household animals, domestic animals. And draviṇa. Draviṇa means wealth, riches. And bandhu, bandhuṣu, friendship. So our... These are our material assets: wife, children, nice house, nice bank balance, and some paśus, animals. Here of course, you keep only one animals, dog. "The best friend." But in India they keep many animals. Those who are rich, they keep elephants, horses, bulls, cows. Dogs are also there, but dogs are not so important there. Asses also. These are domestic...
And cats also. These are domestic animals. These animals, they like to live with human beings... They do not go to the forest.
If one can understand nitya-siddha bhāgavata, then he immediately becomes eligible to go back to home, to back to godhead. This is the privilege of associating with mahā-bhāgavata. So our system is, (child crying—aside:) try and maintain (?). Evaṁ paramparā, to associate with the mahā-bhāgavata by words or by physical exposition (?). So mahā-bhāgavata arbhakaḥ. One may argue, arbhakaḥ means foolish child, who has no knowledge, he is called arbhakaḥ. How we can say mahā-bhāgavata? Arbhakaḥ, he has no knowledge. No. It is possible. Ahaituky apratihatā. Bhakti does not depend on age, or on advanced knowledge, or richness, or so many other things. Janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrī (SB 1.8.26). To take birth in high family, aristocracy, and to become rich, to become beautiful, to become very learned scholar. These things are material assets, but spiritual life does not depend on these things. One can become spiritually very advanced even though he is poor, he is born in a low, low-grade family.
Just like Haridāsa Ṭhākura. He was born in Muhammadan family, but mahā-bhāgavata. There are so many examples. Not that because he was born in a Muhammadan family therefore he cannot. This Marchoism (?) is like that, but actually it is not. Ahaituky apratihatā. Bhakti is so purifying that any condition, any circumstances, one can become devotee.
So these are material assets. (aside:) It's not working? (bumps microphone) Hm? Wealth, dhana... Nobody can captivate Kṛṣṇa by all these material possessions. These are material possessions: money, then manpower, beauty, education, austerity, mystic power and so on, so on. There are so many things. They are not capable of approaching the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kṛṣṇa personally says, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). He doesn't say all these material possessions, that "If one is very rich man, he can have My favor." No. Kṛṣṇa is not a poor man like me, that if somebody gives me some money, I become benefited. He's self-sufficient, ātmārāma. So there is no need of any help from anyone else. He's fully satisfied, ātmārāma. Only bhakti, love, that is required.
Bhakti means to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is without any purpose. Ahaituky apratihatā. That bhakti, unalloyed... Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (CC Madhya 19.167). Everywhere this is the statement of the śāstra, that bhakti should be unalloyed.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
So this Bhagavad-gītā should be taken as it is. One should assimilate. The Indian people, those who are... As Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, bhārata-bhūmite manuṣya-janma haila yāra (CC Adi 9.41). Those who are actually human beings, not cats and dogs, for them, this is the duty. The duty is to assimilate. What is our asset? Our asset is spiritual asset. Now we are giving up. Bhagavad-gītā's not allowed to be instructed in the schools and colleges. How much degraded we are! And we are becoming very proud of our advancement of civilization, material assets. This is simply... Māyayāpahṛta-jñānā. These are described as māyayāpahṛta-jñānā. There is school, college, not only in India, everywhere, all over the world, they... Actually there is no jñāna, knowledge. They're all fools and rascals. We can clearly declare—it may not be very palatable—the whole world is full of rascals and rogues. That's all. How we can say? Now we can say it from the text of the Bhagavad-gītā. What is that?
| Page Title: | Material assets |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=18, CC=3, OB=4, Lec=8, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 33 |