SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM - Prabhupada

242 Srimad-Bhigavatam [Canto 7, Ch. 5senses of the materialists by showing them shortcuts to material opulence.Sometimes they give some talisman or blessing. Sometimes theyattract materialistic persons by producing gold. Then they declare themselvesGod, and foolish materialists are attracted to them for economicdevelopment. As a result of this process of cheating, others are reluctantto accept a religious process, and instead they advise people in geeral towork for material advancement. This is going on all over the world. Notonly now but since time immemorial, no one is interested in mok§a,liberation. There are four principles-dharma (religion), artha(economic development), kama (sense gratification) and mok§a (liberation).People accept religion to become materially opulent. And whyshould one be materially opulent? For sense gratification. Thus peopleprefer these three margas, the three paths of materialistic life. No one isinterested in liberation, and bhagavad-bhakti, devotional service to theLord, is above even liberation. Therefore the process of devotional service,Kn>Qa consciousness, is extremely difficult to understand. This willbe explained later by Prahlada Maharaja. The teachers $aQQa andAmarka tried to induce Prahlada Maharaja to accept the materialistic wayof life, but actually their attempt was a failure.tata enarft gurur jfidtvajfidta-jiieya-catayamdaityendram dariayam lisamatr-mr$m alarikrtamtataft-thereafter; enam-him (Prahlada Maharaja); guruft-histeachers; jnatva-knowing; jnata-known; jiieya-which are to beknown; cah.l.$ayam-the four diplomatic principles (siima, the processof pacifying; dana, the process of giving money in charity; bheda, theprinciple of dividing; and dar:uja, the principle of punishment); daityaindram-untoHira.Qyakasipu, the King of the Daityas; dar5ayiim lisa-