Mahātmā means mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ, bhajanty ananya-manasaḥ (BG 9.13). Mahātmā means those who have finished this material business. Simply they're interested with Kṛṣṇa and . . . just like Haridāsa Ṭhākura or followers, Caitanya Mahāprabhu's followers. If you hear . . . just like Nārada Muni. In his previous birth he heard from these mahātmās, great devotees, only for four months. It is stated here. The time is . . . śarat prāvṛṣa, prāvṛṣa, prāvṛṣikāv ṛtū. Śarat and autumn, two ṛtūs, he heard. The association was there. And the result was: viśṛṇvato me 'nusavaṁ yaśo amalam. Kṛṣṇa's glorification, amalam, without any spot, without any . . . Kṛṣṇa's glories, that is real nirguṇa. Nirguṇa does not mean to become impersonal. Nirguṇa means without any material attributes. So when Kṛṣṇa's glories are chanted, that is not anything of this material world.
Just like Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. This hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, that is not any vibration of this material world. That is spiritual. Golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, rati nā janmilo kene tāy. Saṁsāra-viṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jvale, viṣaya-viṣānale. Viṣānale and dāvānale, these things are described about this material world. Just like in . . . you sang, immediately, saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka-trāṇāya kāruṇya-ghanāghanatvam. So the saṁsāra, this material world, is just like blazing fire, dāvānala, a forest fire. Forest fire means nobody goes to set fire in the forest; it takes automatically. Similarly, we want to live very peacefully in this material world, but that is not possible. There will be fire. And viṣaya-viṣānale. Viṣaya means things which is required for sense enjoyment, āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunam. So either you say viṣaya-viṣānale or saṁsāra-dāvānale, the matter is the same. So Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, therefore, viṣaya-viṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jvale, juṛāite nā koinu upāy. If you want to get out of this viṣānala, the blazing fire of poison or forest fire, then we have to take shelter of this hari-saṅkīrtana.
- golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana
- rati nā janmilo kene tāy
- saṁsāra-dāvānale viṣaya-viṣānale
- dibā-niśi hiyā jvale juṛāite nā koinu upāy
- (Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura)
So in order to get out of this blazing fire of material existence, which is a combination of rajas-tamaḥ-sattva-guṇa, one has to take to this devotional service, and that can be achieved only by hearing from munibhir mahātmabhiḥ, those who are munis. Munis means they are silent about material affairs. They are simply interested with spiritual advancement of life. To give up something and to accept something . . . to give up something is negative, but if you do not accept something positive, this give up something will not stay. Simply to become renounced of the material world will not help. Big, big sannyāsīs, they gave up this material world—brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā—but they, because they did not engage themselves in devotional service, they again come back to this material world for philanthropic work, for altruistic work, for charity, for opening school . . . so simply negative will not help us. We have to accept positive.
So if we accept the positive, the negative will automatically result. Just like here it is said, bhakti-pravṛttā. As soon as bhakti is accepted, then ātma-rajas-tamopahā: you immediately become free. Your soul becomes free from the influence of rajas-tamas. Rajas-tamas means lust and desire. Tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye. If you are entangled in rajas-tamas, then you'll be influenced by lusty desires, kāma and lobha. The lusty desires will never be satisfied. You'll want more, more, more. That is called greedy, lobha, lusty desires and greediness.