Prahlāda Mahārāja says that this person who is very much proud of his intelligence, his aristocracy, his wealth, his education, he can become a proud, but by that prideness he cannot purify himself. But this person, even if he is born in the family of a dog-eater, because he has engaged his everything—mind, words and body—in the service of the Lord, he can purify not only himself, but his whole family. That is the prerogative of a devotee. If there is a pure, sincere devotee in a family, then that family, up to seven generation up and down, they are also liberated. That information we have got in the Vedic scripture.
So Prahlāda Mahārāja says that proud man who is simply proud of his qualification of this body, he cannot even purify himself, and what to speak of purifying his family. But this man who is born even in the family of a dog-eater, but because he has engaged himself fully and solely in the service of the Lord, he not only purifies himself, but he purifies his whole family. Sa-kulam. This very word is prāṇaṁ punāti sa-kulaṁ na tu bhūrimānaḥ.
Yata bhakti-hīnasya trai-guṇa garbhayoḥ bhavanti. Here is a very nice commentary by Śrīdhara Svāmī, that the difference between a devotee and nondevotee is this—that a nondevotee is simply proud of his acquisition. That's all. He has no other qualification. But a devotee, because he is humble and meek, he thinks that, "All these nice qualifications which Kṛṣṇa has given me, or God has given me—so much wealth, so much education, so much beauty—oh, let me engage these things to the service of Kṛṣṇa."
That is the difference between a devotee and nondevotee. There is a very nice verse of Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, the difference between a great soul and a poor soul:
- ahagata caritrāṇi
- vicitrāṇi mahasanam
- lakhhim traya tucchanti
- tad bhareṇa namanti ca
The difference between devotee and nondevotee is that if a devotee is rich man, then he will think, "Oh, Kṛṣṇa has entrusted me with so much money. So it is Kṛṣṇa's money. Let me spend it for Kṛṣṇa."
There are very . . . Prahlāda Mahārāja, Bhisma Mahārāja and Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja, and many, many great kings, they were very rich, but they engaged their money for the service of Kṛṣṇa. Similarly a devotee, if he is educated, he tries to apply his educational qualification in describing Kṛṣṇa by so many literatures, so many publications. That is the proper use