Verse 3.9.114

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 3.9.114:

ধন যশ ভোগ যার আছযে সকল ভক্তি যার নাই, তার সব অমঙ্গল ॥ ১১৪ ॥

धन यश भोग यार आछये सकल भक्ति यार नाइ, तार सब अमङ्गल ॥ ११४ ॥

dhana yaśa bhoga yāra āchaye sakala bhakti yāra nāi, tāra saba amaṅgala || 114 ||

dhana yasa bhoga yara achaye sakala bhakti yara nai, tara saba amangala (114)

English translation:

(114) If one has wealth, fame, and material enjoyment but is bereft of devotion, then everything is inauspicious.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

Coveted objects like wealth, fame, and material enjoyment make one forget Kṛṣṇa. As a result, misfortune and inauspiciousness arise. Only devotional service is the reservoir of all auspiciousness.

In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (3.5.2) Vidura speaks the following words:

sukhāya karmāṇi karoti loko

na taiḥ sukhaṃ vānyad-upāramaṃ vā vindeta bhūyas tata eva duḥkhaṃ yad atra yuktaṃ bhagavān vaden naḥ

“O great sage, everyone in this world engages in fruitive activities to attain happiness, but one finds neither satiation nor the mitigation of distress. On the contrary, one is only aggravated by such activities.

Please, therefore, give us directions on how one should live for real happiness.”

In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (3.7.41) it is stated:

sarve vedāś ca yajñāś ca tapo dānāni cānagha

jīvābhaya-pradānasya na kurvīran kalām api

“O spotless one, your answers to all these questions will grant immunity from all material miseries. Such charity is greater than all Vedic charities, sacrifices, penances, etc.” Also see Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (3.9.7- 19, 10.51.45-57, and 4.3.9-13).

In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (5.19.14) it is stated:

yathaihikāmuṣmika-kāma-lampaṭaḥ suteṣu dāreṣu dhaneṣu cintayan śaṅketa vidvān kukalevarātyayād yas tasya yatnaḥśrama eva kevalam

“Materialists are generally very attached to their present bodily comforts and to the bodily comforts they expect in the future. Therefore they are always absorbed in thoughts of their wives, children, and wealth and are afraid of giving up their bodies, which are full of stool and urine. If a person engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, however, is also afraid of giving up his body, what is the use of his having labored to study the śāstras? It was simply a waste of time.”