Paramaṁ puruṣa is Kṛṣṇa. So even you are . . . you have got kāma, you want something materially profitable—still you worship Kṛṣṇa. The result will be like Dhruva Mahārāja. He went to worship Kṛṣṇa to ask some material benefit, but ultimately he became a great devotee. When he became a devotee, even Kuvera, the treasurer of the demigods, he once . . . Dhruva Mahārāja, when he was king, he was fighting with some demons, and by the request of superior, Nārada, he stopped it. So the demons' forefather, Kuvera, was pleased, that "You have saved my family, so you can take any benefit you ask me." Kuvera means treasurer of the demigods. The whole treasury of the world he could ask from Kuvera Mahārāja, er, Kuvera.
But Dhruva Mahārāja, because he was at that time a pure devotee, he did not ask anything. He said: "Sir, if you want to give me some benediction, please give me this benediction so that I may have my unflinching faith on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa." This is pure devotee. He could have asked him the whole riches of the whole universe, but no; he did not do it. He simply said that "Kindly give me this benediction so that my faith on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa may remain forever." You see? So this is the ultimate goal of life. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ (SB 7.5.31).
So Prahlāda Mahārāja is pure devotee. He is thinking that, "Although I am low-born, but even those who are high-born, full of riches and beauty and bodily strength and yoga perfection, they are not fit for worshiping the Lord."
- manye dhanābhijana-rūpa-tapaḥ-śrutaujas-
- tejaḥ-prabhāva-bala-pauruṣa-buddhi-yogāḥ
- nārādhanāya bhavanti parasya puṁso . . .
- (SB 7.9.9)
Parasya puṁsaḥ. Parasya means Kṛṣṇa, or the Lord, does not belong to this material world. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says:
- avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā
- mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam
- (BG 9.11)
"The rascals, because I come as human being, they think of Me as ordinary human being." But He is parā, parasya puṁsaḥ. Nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt, Śaṅkarācārya said. So He is para-puruṣa, means He is above this material world. There is another nature—that is also described in the Bhagavad-gītā: paras tasmāt tu bhāvaḥ anyaḥ (BG 8.20). Bhāvaḥ means nature. There is another.
Where the Vaikuṇṭha world is? The people do not know. They think these are all fictitious, story. So rascal they have become. You see? But these are actual facts. There is another world, beyond this material world. We cannot calculate what is the length and breadth of this material world, and what we can get information of the spiritual world? But there is.
- paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo
- 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ
- (BG 8.20)
That is never destroyed. In this material world, whatever existence is there, they will be destroyed. So even the whole world there, the spiritual world is not destroyed, and the master of the spiritual world, the enjoyer of the spiritual world, Kṛṣṇa, how He can be like us, like human being? Therefore Kṛṣṇa says: avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā: "Because they have no knowledge, they think I am as a man." Parasya puṁsaḥ.