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Smart Quote of the Day, November 29, 2019

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"A devotee does not have to desire material opulence, but if he is a pure devotee, there is ample opportunity for him to enjoy material happiness also, without personal endeavor. Therefore, everyone is advised to take to devotional service under all circumstances. If one desires material opulence, he can also become a pure devotee, and his desires will be fulfilled."

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This is a quote from Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.10.11

[This chapter describes how the Supreme Personality of Godhead Nrsimhadeva disappeared, after pleasing His devotee, the saintly prince Prahlada Maharaja. It also describes a benediction given by Lord Siva.]

TRANSLATION

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Prahlada, a devotee like you never desires any kind of material opulences, either in this life or in the next. Nonetheless, I order you to enjoy the opulences of the demons in this material world, acting as their king until the end of the duration of time occupied by Manu.

PURPORT:

One Manu lives for a duration of time calculated to be an aggregate of seventy-one yuga cycles, each of which equals 4,300,000 years. Although atheistic men like to enjoy material opulences and they endeavor with great energy to build big residences, roads, cities and factories, unfortunately they cannot live more than eighty, ninety or at the utmost one hundred years.

Although the materialist exerts so much energy to create a kingdom of hallucinations, he is unable to enjoy it for more than a few years. However, because Prahlada Maharaja was a devotee, the Lord allowed him to enjoy material opulence as the king of the materialists.

Prahlada Maharaja had taken birth in the family of Hiranyakasipu, who was the topmost materialist, and since Prahlada was the bona fide heir of his father, the Supreme Lord allowed him to enjoy the kingdom created by his father for so many years that no materialist could calculate them.

A devotee does not have to desire material opulence, but if he is a pure devotee, there is ample opportunity for him to enjoy material happiness also, without personal endeavor. Therefore, everyone is advised to take to devotional service under all circumstances. If one desires material opulence, he can also become a pure devotee, and his desires will be fulfilled. It is stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (2.3.10):


akamah sarva-kamo va
 moksa-kama udara-dhih
tivrena bhakti-yogena
 yajeta purusam param

“Whether one desires everything or nothing, or whether he desires to merge into the existence of the Lord, he is intelligent only if he worships Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by rendering transcendental loving service.”

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