Prabhupada's lecture - Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.5.14 - New Vrindaban, June 18, 1969


Therefore, as I was saying the other day, that many sannyāsīs, they say that "This world is false; Brahman is truth." So in spite of their rising to that platform of Brahman understanding, they again come down. That is described in the Bhāgavatam, āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ: [SB 10.2.32] "After undergoing severe penances and austerities, they may rise to the Brahman platform but again falls down." Why falls down? Anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ: "Because they do not enjoy Your association." They have neglected the association of Kṛṣṇa and company. Therefore they have no, I mean to say, shelter. The same example can be explained: just like if you go on a plane or sputnik very high, very high, it is void, all side void. If you go very high, 25,000 miles, you'll see void. But that, there you cannot stay. You can travel for many years in that void, but if you don't take shelter in a planet, then you'll come back again to this planet. Similarly, the impersonalists, they cannot stay in their impersonal understanding. Simply they suffer some trouble. Kleśa... Bhagavad-gītā says, kleśo 'dhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām [Bg.12.5].

Those who are attached, those who are attached to that impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth, they undergo greater trouble. We transcendentalists, we personalists, we also, from the materialistic point of view, we are... Our standard of living is not very opulent. We lie down anywhere. We are... Our dresses are not so clean. Our rooms are not clean. From the materialistic point of view, somebody comes. He says, "Oh. How wretched these people are living!" That is also another kind of austerity. They have adopted. But that is pleasing. Even they are in so-called wretched condition, they are happy. They are happy. So they're in both ways. But those who are simply attached to the impersonal feature, their trouble is more painful. That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā.