Money: By the purification of money, everything becomes purified. In the Upaniṣads it is written, āhāra śuddho; if the food is purified, then heart will be automatically purified, whether sādhana is performed or not.
I will explain the real meaning of this mantra āhāra śuddho. This does not mean one should give up sādhana. No, it is stressing the importance of the quality of food and how it can purify the heart. When heart is purified, then it is possible to engage the mind in the service of the Lord.
Dhruva smṛti means not to forget the Lord even for a single moment. When the heart is purified then automatically love flows towards Krsna.
This is confirmed in SB 5.5.1:
ṛṣabha uvāca
nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke
kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye
tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ
śuddhyed yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam
Lord Ṛṣabhadeva told His sons: My dear boys, of all the living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, one who has been awarded this human form should not work hard day and night simply for sense gratification, which is available even for dogs and hogs that eat stool. One should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional service. By such activity, one’s heart is purified, and when one attains this position, he attains eternal, blissful life, which is transcendental to material happiness and which continues forever.
This human body should not be used for sense gratification, because sense gratification only leads to suffering. Even a demigod suffers, becoming devoid of all power and then being subject to attack from demons. They may drink nectar to become immortal, but they become weakened by demons. So what is the point of being immortal in such a way that they are still being defeated?
Therefore, in trying to enjoy sense objects, there is suffering. This same pleasure is available to the pigs that eat stool. These are the village pigs. The wild boars eat grass. They do not eat stool and they are so powerful. People say that they do not even fear the lion. The lion cannot kill the boar.
When I was very small, 65 years ago, there was an Indian internationally acclaimed wrestling champion. His name was Gama. He was built like an elephant. One time he came to Allahabad. So many people came to see him. His combatant was a foreign wrestler who was also built like an elephant and he used to eat so much meat everyday. But Gama knocked him down.
There was a journalist who was so much astonished seeing his strength. She asked Gama what his diet was and he told her that he only ate sattvic Indian food and drank pure cow milk, not from buffalo.
In cow milk there is so much power. Properly prepared Indian food is so healthy and strengthening to the body.
I have given this example in relationship with food. Bodily power comes from food in goodness, not in passion or ignorance.
So coming back to SB 5.5.1, Lord Ṛṣabhadeva states that when the heart is cleansed through tapasya, then one’s heart will naturally start flowing in love for Kṛṣṇa. For the heart to be purified, the food must be purified.
Prahlādaji makes the same point in SB 7.5.30:
śrī-prahrāda uvāca
matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā
mitho ’bhipadyeta gṛha-vratānām
adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisraṁ
punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām
Prahlāda Mahārāja replied: Because of their uncontrolled senses, persons too addicted to materialistic life make progress toward hellish conditions and repeatedly chew that which has already been chewed. Their inclinations toward Kṛṣṇa are never aroused, either by the instructions of others, by their own efforts, or by a combination of both.
When one is chewing the chewed, trying to enjoy the sense objects, one’s intelligence can never be connected properly with Kṛṣṇa.
At the present time there are artificial devotees like us who in the name of being staunch find victims in the form of woman or rich persons. We show false devotion to attract others. We are the beggars of materialistic desires.
Real devotees have no desire for sexual enjoyment and money. Prahlāda Mahārāja frankly said that one’s inclination can never be aroused when it is inclined toward these temporary fleeting pleasures. If the senses are going towards darkness, how can they go towards Kṛṣṇa?
SB 7.5.32
naiṣāṁ matis tāvad urukramāṅghriṁ
spṛśaty anarthāpagamo yad-arthaḥ
mahīyasāṁ pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekaṁ
niṣkiñcanānāṁ na vṛṇīta yāvat
Unless they smear upon their bodies the dust of the lotus feet of a Vaiṣṇava completely freed from material contamination, persons very much inclined toward materialistic life cannot be attached to the lotus feet of the Lord, who is glorified for His uncommon activities. Only by becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious and taking shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord in this way can one be freed from material contamination.
Very soon you will go beyond māyā if you take shelter of a saint and bathe in their dust. Automatically this will allow the mind to go towards Kṛṣṇa.
By the purification of food, the heart is purified. Food does not just mean roṭi, dhal and puri. Food in the broader sense means the object of the senses; the food of eye is form, the food of the ear is sound, the food of the skin is touching, the food of the tongue is taste, the food of the nose is smell. These are the food of the senses.
If you see attractive forms, you listen to nice sounds, smell fragrant aromas, eat tasty foodstuffs, and touch pleasing objects; this is the diet of the senses. If one’s diet is truly healthy, then there is no need of performing any austerity.
All the 100 sons of Lord Ṛṣabha were spiritually inclined. Usually there are some children who are inclined toward Kṛṣṇa and some not.
In this regard, the great saint Bhāgavata Ṛṣi says that in history there there has only been one father: Lord Ṛṣabhadeva, there has been only mother: Madalsa, there has been only one son, Lord Kapila, there has been only one friend: Prahlāda Mahārāja, there has been only one brother, Vidura. There has been only one wife like Draupadī. There has been only one spiritual master like Nārada. There has been only one King like Pṛthu Mahārāja, there has only been one husband like Ambarish Mahārāja; most marriages are for sexual enjoyment. However before marriage he sent his sword and a Princess was married to him through his sword with the oath that he would not engage in sexual enjoyment. Up to this day we have not found such a marriage.
So in this way we can understand that if the ‘diet’ of the senses is purified, the food is purified, there is no need for separate austerity.
When the heart is purified, then at every moment one will be able to remember the Lord. And when this steady remembrance of the Lord arises, then all the knots of attachment to māyā will be cut.
In our mind there are infinite knots of attachment. There are 50 varieties of khir, which can be made: the dried fruit khir, almonds khir; so many varieties of khir. One time someone gave me the khir of oranges.
There are so many varieties of food that we cannot count them. And they are all noted in the mind: “This previous khir was good; that khir was excellent” etc. The saṁskāra of all we have contacted with our senses comes in the mind and the heart. These are the knots within the mind. There are millions and billions of knots within the mind, but all these knots will be finished if the food of the senses is purified.