Text 49
na veda kṛpaṇaḥ śreya
ātmano guṇa-vastu-dṛk
tasya tān icchato yacched
yadi so ’pi tathā-vidhaḥ
na — not; veda — knows; kṛpaṇaḥ — a miserly living entity; śreyaḥ — the ultimate necessity; ātmanaḥ — of the soul; guṇa-vastu-dṛk — who is attracted by the creation of the modes of material nature; tasya — of him; tān — things created by the material energy; icchataḥ — desiring; yacchet — one bestows; yadi — if; saḥ api — he also; tathā-vidhaḥ — of the kind (a foolish kṛpaṇa who does not know his real self-interest).
Those who think material assets to be everything or to be the ultimate goal of life are called misers [kṛpaṇas]. They do not know the ultimate necessity of the soul. Moreover, if one awards that which is desired by such fools, he must also be considered foolish.
There are two classes of men — namely the kṛpaṇa and the brāhmaṇa. A brāhmaṇa is one who knows Brahman, the Absolute Truth, and who thus knows his real interest. A kṛpaṇa, however, is one who has a material, bodily concept of life. Not knowing how to utilize his human or demigod life, a kṛpaṇa is attracted by things created by the material modes of nature. The kṛpaṇas, who always desire material benefits, are foolish, whereas brāhmaṇas, who always desire spiritual benefits, are intelligent. If a kṛpaṇa, not knowing his self-interest, foolishly asks for something material, one who awards it to him is also foolish. Kṛṣṇa, however, is not a foolish person; He is supremely intelligent. If someone comes to Kṛṣṇa asking for material benefits, Kṛṣṇa does not award him the material things he desires. Instead, the Lord gives him intelligence so that he will forget his material desires and become attached to the Lord’s lotus feet. In such cases, although the kṛpaṇa offers prayers to Lord Kṛṣṇa for material things, the Lord takes away whatever material possessions the kṛpaṇa has and gives him the sense to become a devotee. As stated by the Lord in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 22.39):
āmi-vijña, ei mūrkhe ‘viṣaya’ kene diba?
sva-caraṇāmṛta diyā ‘viṣaya’ bhulāiba
“Since I am very intelligent, why should I give this fool material prosperity? Instead I shall induce him to take the nectar of the shelter of My lotus feet and make him forget illusory material enjoyment.” If one sincerely prays to God for material possessions in exchange for devotional service, the Lord, who is not foolish like such an unintelligent devotee, shows him special favor by taking away whatever material possessions he has and gradually giving him the intelligence to be satisfied only by rendering service to His lotus feet. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura comments in this regard that if a foolish child requests his mother to give him poison, the mother, being intelligent, will certainly not give him poison, even though he requests it. A materialist does not know that to accept material possessions means to accept poison, or the repetition of birth and death. An intelligent person, a brāhmaṇa, aspires for liberation from material bondage. That is the real self-interest of a human being.