Verse 1.13.194

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.13.194:

তাবত্ রাজ্যাদি-পদ ‘সুখ’ করি’ মানে ভক্তি-সুখ-মহিমা যাবত্ নাহি জানে ॥ ১৯৪ ॥

तावत् राज्यादि-पद ‘सुख’ करि’ माने भक्ति-सुख-महिमा यावत् नाहि जाने ॥ १९४ ॥

tāvat rājyādi-pada ‘sukha’ kari’ māne bhakti-sukha-mahimā yāvat nāhi jāne || 194 ||

tavat rajyadi-pada ‘sukha’ kari’ mane bhakti-sukha-mahima yavat nahi jane (194)

English translation:

(194) One finds happiness in kingly opulences only when he does not know the glorious happiness derived from devotional service.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

Until the natural propensity of inclination towards the service of the Supreme Lord awakens in one’s heart, it is true that the need for achieving desirable objects is felt in the hearts of conditioned souls. But self-realized liberated souls know that material sense objects are useless, so they become indifferent to material advancement or prosperity. The body and mind that consider aversion to the Lord as most relishable search after material enjoyment. As soon as the conditioned soul’s eternal constitutional duty of service to the Supreme Lord is covered by forgetfulness of his constitutional position, material enjoyment becomes his only desired goal. But when the living entity awakens to his eternal duty of service to the Supreme Lord, the activities of sense enjoyment appear to him as temporary and unpalatable. In the prayers of Lord Brahmā found in the conversation between Vidura and Maitreya in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (3.9.6) it is stated: “O my Lord, the people of the world are embarrassed by all material anxieties—they are always afraid.

They always try to protect wealth, body and friends, they are filled with lamentation and unlawful desires and paraphernalia, and they avariciously base their undertakings on the perishable conceptions of ‘I’ and ‘mine.’ As long as they do not take shelter of Your safe lotus feet, they are full of such anxieties.”