St. Lawrence, yes. All other rivers I have seen, they are very unclean, especially in Moscow, Hamburg. Oh, it is so dirty. So in India the rivers are very clean, and people take pleasure in taking bath in rivers. If there is river, nobody will take bath at home. They will go all to the river. And it is very refreshing. That you know. So this example is very nice, that if you go to the river, then your all purposes are served. But in the village, there are restricted, that "This well is for this purpose, this well is this purpose." It may be crowded. You have to wait for the opportunity. But the river is open. You can go there and have your business done very nicely. That will be summarized in the last verse:
- akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā
- mokṣa-kāma udāra-dhīḥ
- tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena
- yajeta paramaṁ puruṣa
- (SB 2.3.10)
That will be the conclusion. Here, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is recommending different demigods for different purposes, because there are all classes of men. So to take immediate effect, they worship demigods. Kṣipram, "very soon." Generally, people do not go to worship Kṛṣṇa and Viṣṇu, because you cannot ask from Kṛṣṇa anything which is not good for you. Suppose you pray to Kṛṣṇa on the seaside, "Kṛṣṇa, give me a good fish. I want to catch," Kṛṣṇa will never fulfill your desire. That is Kṛṣṇa's mercies. Because Kṛṣṇa will not give you facility for possessing anything which will ultimately cause your harden(?). Kṛṣṇa knows that "If he catches a fish, then he will have to become a fish again, to be caught by the same fish." So why shall He give the facility? You see? So therefore our policy is not to ask anything from Kṛṣṇa. He knows what is good for me; simply I have to surrender unto Him. That's all. Why shall I bother Him, "Give me this, give me that, give me that"? No. Na dhanaṁ na janam . . . (CC Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4).
Here, strī-kāma, beautiful wife, kāma, one who wants, devīm, he should worship Goddess Durgā. This is recommended here. But it is kāma. But those who are devotees, they have no kāma. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). Anya. Anya means other than Kṛṣṇa's service. They have made all, everything zero. We don't want all these things. We simply want to serve Kṛṣṇa. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (CC Madhya 19.167)—jñāna means knowledge; karma means fruitive activities—uncovered by or untouched by fruitive activities and jñāna. Just like in Vṛndāvana, all the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, they never tried to know Kṛṣṇa, whether He is God.
That was not their business, jñānam. The jñānīs, they want to know. Just like Brahmā wanted to test whether Kṛṣṇa is God or not. Indra wanted to test whether . . . the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, they never did it. They think, "Kṛṣṇa is our very intimate friend, my beloved son, my lover, my master." Everyone's concentrated love for Kṛṣṇa in different mellows. That's all. Even when Kṛṣṇa played wonderful thing, so they simply thought, "Oh, He might be a demigod." You see? So they never tried to analyze Kṛṣṇa, but their love for Kṛṣṇa, there is no comparison.