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THE LILAMRTA REVIEW
By Sriman Yasodanandana dasa
and the Prabhupadanugas

Srila Prabhupada

SECTION 1

Srila Prabhupada is a pure devotee always, being an eternally liberated associate of the Lord. He did not have a material past at any time. Being an associate of Lord Sri Krsna, he is properly understood to never have been contaminated by matter. As we knew him, his so called material body was not at all material. Heat, cold, happiness and distress, hunger and thirst, birth, disease, old age, and death never touched him. It is not correct that he felt or suffered these mundane influences and pains in a mood of tolerance. He never even felt them, according to the scriptures.

There are two types of pure devotees: (1) the neophyte pure devotee (sadhaka), and (2) the perfect pure devotee (parishat).

"Such pure devotees are of two types: personal associates (parishats) and neophyte devotees (sadhakas). PURPORT: Perfect servitors are considered His personal associates, whereas devotees endeavoring to attain perfection are called neophytes."
C.C. Adi1.64

Generally, ever liberated personalities live in the spiritual world as associates of Lord Krsna, and they are known as Krsnaparishada, associates of the Lord. Their only business is enjoying Lord Krsna's company; even though such eternally liberated persons come within this material world to serve the Lord's purpose, they enjoy Lord Krsna's company without stoppage.  C.C. Madhya 12.l5

This chapter will only be discussing a parishat pure devotee His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. As the bona fide spiritual master, He is described as such in The Gurvastakam prayers:  “Nikunjayana ratikeli siddhayi...The spiritual master is expert in assisting the gopies within the groves of Vrndavana. “Shakshadhari tvena samastashastraih...He is directly as good as the Supreme Lord on account of being the most confidential servitor of the Lord.”  Gurvastka, #6, 7
The Lord's associate is also described as a nityasiddha.
 “Nityasiddha bhakta indicates the eternally liberated associate of the Lord. Such devotees enjoy the company of the Lord in four relationships.”  C.C. Madhya 6.12

Even if Srila Prabhupada was sadhanasiddha, there would be no difference between himself and a nityasiddha devotee:

“A nityasiddha is one who is eternally Krsna's associate (like Nanda and Mother Yasoda), an expansion of Krsna's personal body, whereas a sadhanasiddha is an ordinary human being who, by executing pious activities and following regulative principles of devotional service, also comes to that stage." S.B. 10.8.48

But Srila Prabhupada has written purports in His books, Wherein He compares himself with nityasiddhas. In one letter to Tamal Krsna Gosvami, Srila Prabhupada spoke of the qualification of the nityasiddha, and then stated that he possessed those qualifications:

“And another [spiritual master] is nityasiddha, who is never forgetful of Krsna throughout his whole life...So far my present life is concerned, I do not remember any part of my life when I was forgetful of Krsna.”  Letter to Tamal Krsna, June 1970, from Los Angeles

The associate of the Supreme Lord is also described as mahabagavata:

"Everywhere he immediately sees manifest the form of the Supreme Lord." PURPORT Due to deep ecstatic love for Krsna, the mahabhagavata sees Krsna everywhere, and nothing else. This is confirmed in Brahma Samhita: Premantana cchurita bhakti vilocanena.”
C.C. Madhya 8.274

Srila Prabhupada has directly stated his status as mahabhagavata:

“Such neophytes, unable to appreciate the exalted service of the advanced devotee, try to bring the mahabhagavata to their platform. We experience such difficulties in propagating this Krsna consciousness all over the world. Unfortunately, we are surrounded by neophyte Godbrothers...they simply try to bring us to their platform.  NOI, P. 64

His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada was never affected by the material modes of nature, which include the contaminations of happiness and distress, heat and cold, hunger and thirst, etc. His body was not made of the material elements; when he sometimes said otherwise, that was to accomplish his own purposes in the advancement of his disciples. His body was spiritual. In a letter to Madhusudana in 1968, Srila Prabhupada said that his body was not his true form, but he also said that it was spiritual, nevertheless. He made the comparison of spirit being gold, and his body being gold plated. The associate of the Lord, when he comes to this material world, either as nityasiddha or sadhanasiddha, does not have to experience and tolerate pain. He is of the same quality as Lord Krsna in this regard:

“Even though he appears to be in the material world, he is not affected by the miseries of the material world...Those who are sadhavah, or devotees engaged in Krsna consciousness in the transcendental service of the Lord, do not feel the contamination of material miseries, whereas those who are not devotees in Krsna consciousness actually feel the miseries of material existence.”S.B. 3.25.24

"A pure devotee of the Lord does not live on any planet of the material sky, nor does he feel any contact with the material elements. His so called material body does not exist, being surcharged with the spiritual current of the Lord's identical interest, and thus he is permanently freed from all contaminations of the sum total of the mahat-tattva.  S.B. 1.13.55

Being freed from this material nature is the primary meaning of the qualitative oneness with the Lord (saksadhari) which the pure devotee has realized.

“As the Lord is not affected by the modes of material nature, so a pure devotee of the Lord is also not affected by the modes of nature. That is the primary qualification of being one with the Lord. A person who is able to attain this transcendental qualification is called jivanmukta, or liberated, even though he is apparently in material conditions.”  S.B. 3.4.31

“This is the divinity of the Personality of Godhead. He is not affected by the qualities of material nature, even though he is in contact with them. Similarly, the devotees of the Lord do not become influenced by the material qualities.”  S.B. 1.11.38

“The Personality of Godhead and His liberated devotees like Narada appear in the material world by the same process. As it is said, in the BhagavatGita, the birth and activities of the Lord are all transcendental...The Lord and his devotees are, therefore, simultaneously one and different as spiritual entities. They belong to the same category of transcendence.”   S.B. 1.6.29

“The Lord comes to this material world through the agency of His internal potency, and, similarly, when a devotee or associate of the Lord descends to this material world, he does so through the action of the spiritual energy.  S.B. 7.1.35

Srila Prabhupada’s body has nothing to do with matter. It is spiritual.

“This transcendental body is free from material affinity and invested with three primary transcendental qualities, namely, eternity, freedom from material modes, and freedom from the reactions to fruitive activities. The material body is always afflicted with these three inebrieties. A devotee’s body becomes at once surcharged with the transcendental qualities as soon as he is engaged in the devotional service of the Lord. It acts like a magnetic influence of a touchstone upon iron. The influence of transcendental devotional service is like that. Therefore, change of body means stoppage of the reaction of three qualitative modes of material nature upon the pure devotee.”  S.B. 1.6.28

The above purport is dealing with the sadhanasiddha. His body “changes” its status. A nityasiddha always has a spiritual body:

“A pure devotee of the Lord does not live on any planet of the material sky, nor does he feel any contact with the material elements. His so called material body does not exist, being surcharged with the spiritual current of the Lord’s identical interest, and thus he is permanently freed from all contaminations of the sum total of the mahattattva.”  S.B. 1.13.55

“Therefore, his body is cinmaya, that is, it is spiritual, not material...”  S.B. 10.1.103

“According to Haribhaktivilas, therefore, after the disappearance of the acarya, his body is never burnt to ashes, for it is a spiritual body. The spiritual body is always unaffected by natural condition.”  S..B. 10.4.20

“Therefore, a devotee who engages in the service of the Supreme Lord, and who constantly thinks of Him, should never be considered to have a material body. It is, therefore, enjoined: gurusu naramati One should stop thinking of the spiritual master as an ordinary human being with a material body.’”  S.B. 8.3.2

We have humbly endeavored to explain to some small degree, with reference to Srila Prabhupada's books, the status of His Divine Grace's socalled "material" body. Yet, the Lilamrta does not tally with these quotations. To write a biography of the pure devotee, telling how the spiritual master is influenced by material elements is similar to writing a description of the Deity in the temple as being a mundane statue.

Srila Prabhupada writes:

“Acarya visnau siladhih: everyone knows that the Deity in the temple is made of stone, but to think that the Deity is merely stone is an offense. Similarly, to think that the body of the spiritual master consists of material ingredients is offensive. Atheists think that the devotees foolishly worship a stone statue as God, and an ordinary man as the guru.”  S.B. 8.3.2

“One must see things astheyare, through the mercy of a spiritual master; otherwise, if one tries to see Krsna directly, he may mistake an ordinary man for Krsna, and Krsna for an ordinary man. Everyone has to see Krsna according to the verdict of the Vedic literatures presented by the selfrealized spiritual master.”  C.C. Madhya 18.99

The Lilamrta was researched by several disciples who interviewed karmis who think the bonafide spiritual master to be, at least in some respects, an ordinary man.

“Intermingling the spiritual with the material causes one to look on transcendence as material and mundane as spiritual. All this is due to a poor of knowledge.”  C.C. Madhya 16.72

The Lilamrta mixes quotes by Srila Prabhupada, neophyte disciples, "blooped" devotees, karmis, and mayavadis. Regarding transcendental literature, His Divine Grace writes:

“He [Krsna das Kaviraja Gosvami] never claims to have written this transcendental literature by carrying out research work...This is the way of describing transcendental literatures, which are never meant for socalled "scholars" or "research workers."  C.C. Madhya 8.312

“To know about the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the characteristics of His pure devotee, one must inquire from authorities like Devarshi Narada. One cannot inquire about transcendental subject matters from a laymen.”  S.B. 7.4.44

“Similarly, if we analyze all our senses in this way, we will find them all to be imperfect. Therefore, it is useless to acquire knowledge from the senses. The Vedic process is to hear from authority.”  C.C. Adi 7.107

“Unless one is personally a realized soul in the science of Krsna consciousness, a neophyte should not approach him to hear about the Lord.”
S.B.10.14

“It is therefore said, vaisnavera krtya mudra vijna na bhujhaya. A highly advanced Vaisnava lives in such a way that no one can understand what he is or what he was. Nor should attempts be made to understand the past of a Vaisnava.”  S.B. 7.13.14

The Lilamrta attempts to show that Srila Prabhupada becomes fatigued, goes into ignorance, gets heatstroke, diseased, starves, suffers from old age, has imperfect senses, etc.

“An ignorant person may see that a devotee is acting or working like an ordinary man, but such a person with a poor fund of knowledge does not know that the activities of the devotee or of the Lord are not contaminated by impure consciousness or matter. They are transcendental to the three modes of material nature.  B.G., Intro., p. 11

The following pages include some of the Lilamrta's thoughts, compared to Srila Prabhupada's thoughts on the same subject, as found in his books.  The Lilamrta claims that Srila Prabhupada overexerted himself, felt exhausted, and was dead tired:

“Bhaktivedanta Swami's neighbors observed him coming home dead tired in the evening.
Lilamrta Book I, p. 283

“After some time the drive became tiring for Prabhupada.”
Lilamrta Book II, p.259

“The next morning Prabhupada didn't get up. He was exhausted...For the first time, it became apparent that he was overexerting himself.”
Lilamrta Book II, p.259

The Webster's Dictionary defines exhaustion as "to tire extremely or completely, as by overwork." Srila Prabhupada writes in this regard:

“Materially, when a man becomes tired by rendering service to his physical body, he is allowed retirement. But in the transcendental service there is no feeling of fatigue, because it is spiritual service and not on the bodily plane. Service on the bodily plane dwindles as the body grows older, but the spirit is never old and, therefore, on the spiritual plane the service is never tiresome.”  S.B. 3.2.3

“There is no question of being tired on the spiritual platform.”

POY, p. 10

The Lilamrta claims that Srila Prabhupada becomes drowsy and dozes.

“He stayed until around eleven o'clock, and then he became drowsy. And the party was over.”  Lilamrta II, p.269

“After some time, the drive became tiring for Prabhupada, and he dozed...”  Lilamrta II, p.172

Webster's Dictionary defines drowsy as "indolent and lethargic".

His Divine Grace, to the contrary writes:

“Such mahabhagavats, or first grade devotees, although moving amongst men, are not contaminated by honor or insult, hunger or satisfaction, sleep or wakefulness, which are all resultant actions of the three modes of material nature.”  S.B. 1.11.38

“Sleep also means ignorance. Arjuna conquered both sleep and ignorance because of his friendship with Krsna. As a great devotee of Krsna, he could not forget Krsna even for a moment, because that is the nature of a devotee.”  B.G. 1.24

The Lilamrta claims that Srila Prabhupada became unconscious due to heat.

“One day, while delivering BTG to various addresses in the city, Abhay suddenly began reeling, half unconscious, overcome by the heat.”
Lilamrta I, p.194

Srila Prabhupada, to the contrary, writes:

“Because this transcendental position is at once achieved by one who is in Krsna consciousness, the devotee of the Lord is unaffected by the dualities of material existence, namely distress and happiness, cold and heat, etc. This state is practical samadhi, or absorption in the Supreme.”
B.G. 6.7

If there appeared to be any such "collapse", it would not be due to the heat, but rather due to transcendental ecstasy, according to the sastra, and could be understood only by another pure devotee:

“Even a most learned scholar cannot understand the activities and symptoms of an exalted personality in whose heart love of Godhead has awakened.”  C.C. Madhya 23.40

“The many external ecstatic symptoms or bodily transformations...are the anubhavas or subordinate ecstatic expressions of love. Some of these are dancing, falling down, and rolling on the ground.”  C.C. Madhya 23.51

The Lilamrta claims that Srila Prabhupada was dangerously old. It says that he was, as are most old men, like a toting father.

“He was making a momentous break with his previous life, and he was dangerously old and not in strong health. And he was going to an unknown and probably unwelcoming country.”  Lilamrta I, p. 287

“One boy, Stanley, was quite young, and Prabhupada almost like a doting father, watched over him as he ate.”  Lilamrta II, p. l51

Webster's Dictionary defines doting as: "1) to be feebleminded or weak minded, especially from old age; 2) to show excess or foolish affection or fondness."

Srila Prabhupada, however, writes:

“My dear king, a devotee who has taken shelter of the dust from the lotus feet of the Lord can transcend the influence of the six material whips namely, hunger, thirst, lamentation, illusion, old age, and death and he can conquer the mind and five senses.”  S.B. 5.1.35

“Another symptom of a liberated person is vijara, which indicates that he is not subjected to the miseries of old age.”  S.B. 5.4.5

The Lilamrta claims that Srila Prabhupada was starving.

“When Abhay arrived, he appeared very poor, starving, he had no means.”  Lilamrta I, p.164

Webster’s Dictionary defines starving as: "to suffer extreme hunger, to perish from lack of food."

Dhruva Maharaja was so advanced that he only took one breath of air every twelve days, and his strength and happiness increased immeasurably. In transcendental ecstasy. Raghunatha Gosvami ate one slice of butter every alternate day. Queen Kunti fasted without inconvenience for thirty days. Because he was on the same transcendental platform as these great souls, Srila Prabhupada could not have suffered a starving condition. What to speak of Srila Prabhupada, who is the greatest yogi, even mystic yogis who are still siddhikami can live without food and not suffer the pangs of starvation.

“...it appears that even if a yogi does not drink a drop of water, he can live for many, many years...”  S.B. 7.3.1819

Srila Prabhupada had no material drives and, therefore, he was never victimized by hunger or any other law of material nature.

“A true brahmana is always satisfied. Even if he has nothing to eat, he can drink a little water and be satisfied....a devotee is always satisfied because he feels the presence of the Supersoul within his heart and thinks of Him twentyfour hours a day...A devotee is never driven by the dictations of the tongue and genitals, and thus he is never victimized by the laws of material nature.”  S.B. 7.15.18

The Lilamrta claims that Srila Prabhupada suffered the affliction and great inconvenience of disease, seasickness, and ill health.

“When Abhay was fifteen, he was afflicted with beri-beri and his mother, who was also stricken, regularly had to rub a powder of calcium chloride on his legs to reduce the swelling. Abhay soon recovered.”  Lilamrta I, pp. 1819

                    “He was...not in strong health.”  Lilamrta I, p. 287

“Externally, Srila Prabhupada was experiencing great inconvenience; he had been aboard ship for a month and had suffered heart attacks and repeated sea sicknesses.”  Lilamrta II, p. 5

“He had barely survived two heart attacks at sea...”  Lilamrta II, p. 7

However, Srila Prabhupada writes:

“One may argue that we may see a person who is spiritually engaged twenty-four hours a day but is still suffering from disease. In fact, however, he is neither suffering nor diseased; otherwise, he could not be engaged twenty-four hours a day in spiritual activities. Therefore, one who is situated in the spiritual status of life is unaffected by...any superficial dirty things.”  S.B. 10.4.20

“The spiritual master or acarya is always situated in the spiritual status of life. Birth, death, disease, and old age do not affect him.”  S.B. 10.4.20

“If the spiritual master appears to be diseased or invalid, it is for our benefit, and not due to personal mundane imperfection.”

“A Vaisnava is always protected by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but if he appears to be an invalid, this gives a chance to his disciples to serve him.”  C.C. Adi, 9.11

The Lilamrta speculates that Srila Prabhupada had imperfect senses.

“That morning, Srila Prabhupada, who had perhaps never seen snow, woke and thought that someone had whitewashed the side of the building next door. Not until he went outside did he discover that it was snow.”  Lilamrta II, p.43

Unlike the conditioned souls, the liberated soul does not have imperfect senses. His Divine Grace writes:

“Presently, people are so fallen that they cannot distinguish between a liberated soul and a conditioned soul. A conditioned soul is hampered by four defects. He is sure to commit mistakes, he is sure to become illusioned, he has a tendency to cheat others and his senses are imperfect. Consequently, we have to take directions from liberated persons...Because the entire world is now following the imperfect directions of conditioned souls, humanity is completely bewildered.”  S.B. 4.18.5

“Mistake, illusion, cheating, and imperfection, which are the flaws of all conditioned souls...The liberated souls are above those flaws.”  S.B. 1.3.24

“But if one carries out the order of the spiritual master by disciplic succession or the parampara system, he overcomes the four defects.”  S.B. 3.24.12

“Although a devotee may apparently express himself to be ignorant, he is full of knowledge in every intricate matter.”  S.B. 3.7.8

Srila Prabhupada's position is similar to that of Krsna das Kaviraja. So even if Srila Prabhupada had himself told this story, we would not have taken his "imperfect senses" story literally.

“Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami also thinks of himself in such a humble way. I am a worse sinner than Jagai and Madhai, and I am even lower than the worms in stool.’ A pure devotee always thinks himself more deficient than everyone else. If a devotee approaches Srimati Radharani to offer some service to Krsna, even Srimati Radharani thinks that the devotee is greater than she.”  S.B. 7.1.27

“It should be concluded, therefore, that the description of Caitanya Caritamrta by Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami manifests specific mercy bestowed upon the author, although he thought himself as the most fallen. We should not consider him fallen because he describes himself as such.”  C.C. Adi 13.1

To think of the spiritual master as having a material body, subject to material defects, is to think of the bonafide spiritual master as fallen.

“The material body is meant for sense enjoyment, whereas the spiritual body engages in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. Therefore, a devotee who engages in the service of the Supreme Lord and who constantly thinks of him, should never be considered to have a material body. It is, therefore, enjoined, "gurusu naramati." One should stop thinking of the spiritual master as an ordinary human being with a material body.

“If one considers the spiritual master an ordinary human being, one is doomed... One may argue by saying that, since the spiritual master's relatives and men of his neighborhood consider him an ordinary human being, what is the fault on the part of the disciple to consider the spiritual master an ordinary human being?... He Must be accepted as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead...Even a slight deviation from this understanding can create disaster in the disciple's Vedic studies and austerities.”  S.B. 7.15.26

SRILA PRABHUPADA DID NOT HAVE MATERIAL EMOTIONS

If one were requested to fully surrender one's life to a personality who himself becomes baffled, frustrated and discouraged, who is affected by mistakes and failures, who becomes morose when there are unfavorable results, and who can rather easily become shocked or shaken, would you be strongly inclined to surrender yourself to such an individual? If one were further asked to surrender one's life to a person who shudders at the thought of Krsna taking his money away and who gets embarrassed, bewildered, and perplexed on occasion, and who is enamored by the Lord's illusory energy (except when his heart cracks upon hearing noises in the n cities), would be strongly inclined to fully surrender himself to such a person?

And if you would and could surrender your life to the person who has the mundane qualities described above, would you be surrendering to a completely realized soul? Not according to the sastra, although the Lilamrta might try to convince you that you were.

His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada has none of the abovementioned material disqualifications. His mind and emotions are fully spiritual, and are always absorbed in transcendental bliss. Since he is situated on the same platform as Lord Krsna, his mind, emotions and activities are not able to be appreciated by the Lilamrta's method of mental speculation and direct sense perception on the part of conditioned souls. Such mundane understanding can easily be discarded. Transcendence is not understood, after all, by the ascending process.

“When a man is sleeping, everyone sees that he is present within the room, but actually the man himself is not within the body, for while sleeping a man forgets his bodily existence, although others may see that his body is present. Similarly, a liberated person engaged in devotional service of the Lord may be seen by others to be engaged in the household duties of the material world but, since his consciousness is fixed on Krsna, he does not live within this world. His engagements are different, exactly as a sleeping man's engagements are different from his bodily engagements.”  Krsna, Vol. 3, Chapter 86, “Prayers by the Personified Vedas”

“It is said, 'Vaisnavera kriyamudra vijne na bujhaya.’ Even the most learned man depending on direct sense perception of knowledge cannot understand the activities of a Vaisnava.’”  C.C. Madhya 7.66

Relying on the mental speculation and clouded memories of devotees (since we are virtually all neophytes), or on ex-devotees and karmis, the spiritual truths can easily be distorted. Some of the tales such people may tell may not even have any truth in them. For example, one devotee, after reading passages of the Lilamrta spoken by Srila Prabhupada's printer in New Delhi (Mr. Sharma), commented to a research editor of the Lilamrta, "What a nice devotee Mr. Sharma was to have helped Srila Prabhupada like he did." The research editor replied that Mr. Sharma was not at all that nice, in his estimation. The explanation continued to the effect that, because Srila Prabhupada is now famous, everyone in India wants to say that it was he who helped him. These are not the kinds of people from whom we should hear of the topmost paramahamsa, Srila Prabhupada.

“...glorification of the Lord [from the lips of a nondevotee] is simply a vibration of material sound.”  S.B. 4.20.24

Avaisnava mukhodgirnam...Milk touched by the lips of a serpent has poisonous effects. Similarly, talks about Krsna given by an avaisnava are also poisonous ...when a pure Vaisnava speaks, he speaks perfectly. How is this? His speech is managed by Krsna Himself from within the heart...Non devotees want to ask the Supreme Lord for sense gratification; therefore, non devotees come under the influence of maya, the illusory energy. A devotee, however, is directed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and comes under the influence of yogamaya. Consequently, there is a gulf of difference between statements made by a devotee and those made big a non devotee.”  C.C. Madhya 8.200

“Unless one is empowered by the higher authorities or advanced devotees, one cannot write transcendental literature, for all such literature must be above suspicion or, in other words, it must have none of the defects of the conditioned souls, namely mistakes, illusions, cheating and imperfect sense perceptions. The words of Krsna and the disciplic succession that carries the order of Krsna are actually authoritative.”  S.B. 4.20.24

Even the most significant events are difficult to remember clearly, when such incidents occurred anywhere from five to fifty years previously. KaliYuga is notorious for bad memories.

If we want to understand His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada, we can do so properly by hearing from he himself.

“There is nothing new to be said. Whatever I had to say, I have already said in my books. Now you must all try to understand it and continue with your endeavors. Whether I am present or not present doesn't matter.”  Srila Prabhupada, BTG, Vol. 13, 12

“I'll always be with you in my books and my orders. I'll always be with you in that way.”  Ibid.

There appeared in an old BTG a photo article entitled, "Let Krsna Speak For Himself." Similarly, we should "Let Srila Prabhupada Speak For Himself."

The Lilamrta claims that Srila Prabhupada was sometimes materially fascinated by the material energy. First, as a child...

“Sounds and sights of the hackneys, with their large wheels spinning over the road, caught the fascinated attention of [Srila Prabhupada & the other child].”  Lilamrta I, p.3

The sastra, however, informs us that the nityasiddha devotee, even in childhood, is never enamored by matter, because he is always absorbed in rasa with Krsna.

“A nityasiddha never forgets the service of the Lord. He is always engaged, even from childhood, in worshipping the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”  C.C. Madhya 3.167

“For a small boy to give up playing is impossible, but Prahlad Maharaja, being situated in first class devotional service, was always absorbed in a trance of Krsna consciousness. Just as a materialistic person is always absorbed in thoughts of material gain, a mahabhagavata, like Prahlada Maharaja, is always absorbed in thoughts of Krsna.”  S.B. 7.4.37

Regarding His Divine Grace's later life, the Lilamrta claims:

“He sat on the couch while I swept with the vacuum cleaner, and he was so interested in that ...”  Lilamrta II, p. 16

The sastra, however, informs us that the pure devotee is not interested in matter like the mundane man, because he sees the material varieties as products of nescience, with no real value.

“When one is Krsna conscious, he can realize that material existence, whether one is awake or dreaming, is nothing but a dream and has no factual value.”  S.B. 7.7.27

“Being a liberated soul and completely learned, he sees all material varieties as meaningless because their basic principle is nescience...being in such a position, he sees the material world with a different vision.”  S.B. 4.16.19

“Thus, the devotees of the Lord are never enchanted by the glare of materialistic life, and they live impartially, unattached to the objects of the false, illusory way of life.”  S.B. 1.19.20

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