Text 7
jāyāpatya-gṛha-kṣetra-
svajana-draviṇādiṣu
udāsīnaḥ samaṁ paśyan
sarveṣv artham ivātmanaḥ
jāyā — to wife; apatya — children; gṛha — home; kṣetra — land; svajana — relatives and friends; draviṇa — bank account; ādiṣu — and so on; udāsīnaḥ — remaining indifferent; samam — equally; paśyan — seeing; sarveṣu — in all of these; artham — purpose; iva — like; ātmanaḥ — of oneself.
One should see one’s real self-interest in life in all circumstances and should therefore remain detached from wife, children, home, land, relatives, friends, wealth and so on.
A devotee of the Lord recognizes that his wife, children, home, land, friends and money are meant to be engaged in the loving service of the Supreme Lord. Therefore, he does not frantically make arrangements for the sense gratification of his family and friends. He is not eager to enjoy the false prestige of being the master of his wife and the lord of his children, nor is he anxious to gain prestige from his friends and society. Thus he does not envy anyone and is not lazy in the matter of self-realization. He is free from the false sense of proprietorship and is always eager to develop his understanding of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is free from false egotism and automatically turns away from useless materialistic conversation. Thus he is steady and not whimsical, and he is always firmly situated in loving friendship at the lotus feet of the spiritual master.
The question may be raised as to how one can develop freedom from false proprietorship. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has given the following example. An ordinary man is very eager to accumulate more and more money, and he maintains his wealth in the form of bank accounts, properties, gold, and so on. As long as these different assets are contributing to his financial well-being, he sees them equally and considers that they belong to him. But if some of his assets are taken by the government for taxes, or if they are lost in an unfortunate business arrangement, then he is forced to give up his sense of proprietorship. In the same way, everyone should be intelligent enough to observe that one’s sense of ownership over innumerable material objects is not permanent; therefore one should develop detachment from these things. If one does not cultivate a loving feeling of friendship for the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His pure devotee, the spiritual master, one will undoubtedly be entangled by the network of material society, friendship and love. One will then remain bound up on the material platform with no hope of permanent happiness.