So Kṛṣṇa says that: "Anyone who is trying to approach Me, to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, at the same time, he wants to become materially happy, he's not very intelligent." That means he's wasting his time. Our main business is how to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. This is the main business of human life. But if we waste our time for material improvement, and forget chanting, then that is loss, great loss. So such mentality, Kṛṣṇa says: āmi vijña ei mūrkhe viṣaya kene diba. "So this rascal is asking some material prosperity from Me by discharging devotional service. Why shall I give him material prosperity? Rather, whatever he has got, I shall take it away." Yes. (laughter) It is not laughing. When it is taken away, we become very morose. But that is the test. That is stated by Kṛṣṇa Himself to Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja: yasyāham anugṛhṇāmi hariṣye tad dhanaṁ śanaiḥ (SB 10.88.8).
Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja indirectly inquired from Kṛṣṇa that: "We are completely dependent on you, and still we are suffering materially so much, that our kingdom is taken away, our wife is insulted, we were attempted to be burned in a house." So Kṛṣṇa said: "Yes that is My first business." Yasyāham anugṛhṇāmi hariṣye tad dhanaṁ śanaiḥ. "If I specially favor anybody, then I take away all his sources of income." Very dangerous. Yes. I have got my practical experience in this connection. Yes. That is Kṛṣṇa's special favor. I do not wish to narrate, but it is a fact. It is a fact. My Guru Mahārāja ordered me when I was twenty-five years old that: "You go and preach." But I thought: "First of all, I shall become a rich man, and I shall use that money for preaching work."
So that's a long history. I got good opportunity for becoming very rich man in business. And some astrologer told me that: "You should have become like Birla." So there was some chances, very good chances. I was manager in a big chemical factory. I started my own factory, the business was very successful. But everything was dismantled. I was forced to come to this position to carry out my order of my Guru Mahārāja. Akiñcana-vittāya. When everything was finished, then I took Kṛṣṇa, that: "You are the only..." Therefore Kṛṣṇa is akiñcana-vitta. When one becomes finished of all his material opulences
And now I am realizing that I have not lost. I've gained. I've gained. That's a fact. So to lose material opulences for Kṛṣṇa's sake is not loss. It is the greatest gain. Therefore it is said: akiñcana-vitta. When one becomes akiñcana, nothing to possess, everything finished, then Kṛṣṇa becomes the only riches for such person. Because he's devotee. Just like Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says:
- hā hā prabhu nanda-suta, vṛṣabhānu-sutā-juta
- karuṇā karaha ei-bāra
- narottama-dāsa koy, nā ṭheliha rāṅgā pāy
- tomā bine ke āche āmāra
Because Kṛṣṇa has no difference between body and self. He's simply self, spirit soul. So we have got now this body and self. I am self, but I possess this body. Then when actually we become dependent on Kṛṣṇa, as Kṛṣṇa is self-satisfied, similarly we can be also self-satisfied with Kṛṣṇa. Kaivalya, kaivalya-pataye namaḥ. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they, monists, they want to become one with the Supreme. As Supreme is self-satisfied, they also want to be self-satisfied by becoming one with the Supreme. Our philosophy is also the same, kaivalya. But we depend on Kṛṣṇa. We do not become one with, one with Kṛṣṇa. That is oneness. If we simply agree to abide by the order of Kṛṣṇa, there is no disagreement, that is oneness.
These Māyāvādī philosophers, they think that: "Why shall I keep my individual, separate existence? I shall become merged into..." That is not possible. Because we are created, not created, from the very beginning... We are separated part and parcel. We are separated parts and parcels. therefore Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā: "My dear Arjuna, you, Me, and all these persons who have assembled in this battlefield, we were in the past individuals. We are, at present, individuals, and in the future, we shall continue to remain as individuals. We are all individual." Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). He's the Supreme nitya, Supreme Living Force amongst many, innumerable living forces. We are jīva, innumerable, ananta. There is no counting how many we are. Sa anantyāya kalpate. So this ananta, innumerable living entities, and Kṛṣṇa is also a living entity, but He's the chief. That is the difference. Nityo nityānā...
Just like there is leader. Leader is one, and followers, there are many. Similarly Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Living Entity, and we are subordinate, dependent living entities. That is the difference. Dependent, we can understand, if Kṛṣṇa does not supply us food, we starve. That's a fact. We cannot produce anything. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. So Kṛṣṇa is maintaining, and we are being maintained. Therefore Kṛṣṇa shall be the predominator, and we shall be predominated. That is our natural constitutional position. Therefore if we want to become predominator falsely in this material world, that is illusion, That we must give up. That we must give up. We shall always try to become predominated by Kṛṣṇa. That is successful life.