Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.10.17
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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sādhavaḥ
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saintly persons
Nominative plural of sādhu. From √sādh, 'to accomplish.' The sādhu is one who has accomplished the goal of life — sambandha realized, abhidheya practiced, prayojana being lived. Their saṅga is itself the means.
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sama-darśinaḥ
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equal-visioned
Compound: sama (equal) + darśin (one who sees). Sādhus see all jīvas as parts of Kṛṣṇa equally — but the pauper is the one positioned to receive that equal vision, because his pride is already broken. Gītā 5.18 uses the same compound.
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tarṣam
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the desire for material enjoyment
Accusative of tarṣa, 'thirst.' Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu uses tṛṣṇā as the same root metaphor. Sat-saṅga is the only liquid that quenches tarṣa — material indulgence merely brines it. The verse promises the thirst itself will reduce.
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viśuddhyati
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is cleansed
Present middle from vi-√śudh, 'to purify thoroughly.' The intensifier vi- matters: not surface washing but core cleansing. The same verb Gauḍīya tradition uses for what saṅkīrtana does to the heart (ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam).
It is said, mahad-vicalanaṁ nṝṇāṁ gṛhiṇāṁ dīna-cetasām ( Bhāg. 10.8.4 ). The only business of a saintly person or sannyāsī, a person in the renounced order, is to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Sādhus, saintly persons, want to preach to both the poor and the rich, but the poor take more advantage of the sādhus’ preaching than the rich do. A poor man receives sādhus very quickly, offers them obeisances, and tries to take advantage of their presence, whereas a rich man keeps a big greyhound dog at his door so that no one can enter his house. He posts a sign saying “Beware of Dog” and avoids the association of saintly persons, whereas a poor man keeps his door open for them and thus benefits by their association more than a rich man does. Because Nārada Muni, in his previous life, was the poverty-stricken son of a maidservant, he got the association of saintly persons and later became the exalted Nārada Muni. This was his actual experience. Therefore, he is now comparing the position of a poor man with that of a rich man. satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido bhavanti hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ taj-joṣaṇād āśv apavarga-vartmani śraddhā ratir bhaktir anukramiṣyati ( Bhāg. 3.25.25 ) If one gets the advantage of association with saintly persons, by their instructions one becomes more and more purified of material desires. kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha haiyā bhoga-vāñchā kare nikaṭa-stha māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare ( Prema-vivarta ) Material life means that one forgets Kṛṣṇa and that one increases in one’s desires for sense gratification. But if one receives the advantage of instructions from saintly persons and forgets the importance of material desires, one is automatically purified. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam ( Śikṣāṣṭaka 1). Unless the core of a materialistic person’s heart is purified, he cannot get rid of the pangs of bhava-mahā-dāvāgni, the blazing fire of material existence.
One should not think that if the poor man has only one desire, that is enough to cause his downfall. He has some relief. The devotees are equal to the rich and poor, and therefore visit both out of mercy. In the presence of the devotee the poor man develops a relationship through the possibility of worship and discussion. This bears good results. This does not result from the devotees’ association with the man intoxicated with wealth. By the power of the devotee’s association (sadbhih), the desire in the poor man is weakened. By the mercy of the devotee what remains is the taste for the nectar of devotion. Verse 15 mentioned the poor man by fate (yadrcchaya) received suffering. But the devotee does not get that suffering and bhakti by karma , for the devotee has no karma.
However he becomes successful by association with devotees. The devotees meet the poor person without making effort (yujyante) since both parties are prone to wander around in solitary places. The word eva indicates that they meet with the poor man only, not with the wealthy man. It is rare that the devotee goes to the wealth man since his house is crowded with people. The devotees do not make efforts to meet the wealthy man and avoid the poor man like other people do. They see wealth or lack of it equally (sama-darśinaḥ). By association with the devotees, the poor man quickly (ārāt) loses all thirst for other objects. Some versions have hi śuddhyati. Hi means certainly.
However he becomes successful by association with devotees. The devotees think of the lord and the poor man as equals, but not the rich man, and associate with the poor man (yujyante) because they cannot die taking wealth with them. Or they associate with the poor to give them benefit, since they are compassionate to the suffering people. Or sama means the Lord who associates (sa) with Lakṣmī (mā). The devotees, fixed on seeing the Lord (sama-darśinaḥ), associate with the poor man because they are similar in not having wealth. Thus they are more merciful to the poor. By the devotees the person very quickly (ārāt) destroys his constant greed for food or attachment to enjoyment. That is certain (hi).
- Notice today which 'greyhound at the door' — money, status, busyness — you use to keep the association of devotees at arm's length, and dismantle one of them.
- Spend at least fifteen minutes in actual saṅga today — hear from a sādhu in person, on a recorded class, or through Prabhupāda's purports — and let the instruction touch one specific material desire.
- Refuse to romanticize your comforts; identify one area where your relative 'richness' is dulling your hunger for Kṛṣṇa, and voluntarily simplify it this week.
Sādhus pass through a city like wind through a screen — there is no door for them at the rich man's palace, but the pauper's torn curtain catches them and they sit down. Poverty is the screen's tear; through it the breeze of sat-saṅga reaches the heart's room.
Vidura, having abandoned the Kuru court and his nephew Dhṛtarāṣṭra's palace, set out on pilgrimage as a poor wanderer. Stripped of position, he met the sage Maitreya by the Yamunā and received in those days the entire teaching that became SB Canto 3 — Sāṅkhya, Kapila-Devahūti, the cosmology of the universe.
While he was a palace minister, no such instruction had reached him. Once he became daridra — the very condition Nārada commends in SB 10.10.17 — the sādhu's words filled the space where royal duty had been.
My note
Source: vedabase.io