SB 7.5.5

śrī-prahlāda uvāca
tat sādhu manye ‘sura-varya dehināṁ
sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad-grahāt
hitvātma-pātaṁ gṛham andha-kūpaṁ
vanaṁ gato yad dharim āśrayeta

śrīplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigsri

and opulence; beautiful; beauty; fortune; Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune; named śrī; opulence or beauty; opulences; the affluent; the goddess of fortune; the goddess of fortune, or a beautiful calf; the treasury houses; transcendental; with opulence.-prahlādaḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigprahlādaḥ

Mahārāja Prahlāda; Prahlāda; Prahlāda Mahārāja. uvācaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_biguvāca

answered; described; explained; he recited; he said; inquired; prayed; replied; said; she said; she spoke; spoke; talked with them.—Prahlāda Mahārāja replied; tatplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigtat

establishment of the statement tat tvam asi.—that; sādhuplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigsādhu

a devotee; all good; as good as it should be; beautiful; befitting; devotee; duly; excellent; good; honest; of devotees; of saintly persons; of the devotees; of the exalted devotees; pious activities; proper; properly; quite all right; really good; saint; saintly; saintly, beautifully; the best; this is relevant; very good; very good, or the best part of life; very much purified; well and good; well behaved; what is auspicious; your goodness.—very good, or the best part of life; manyeplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigmanye

accept; although I think; I consider; I have vowed; I shall consider; I take it for granted; I think; I understand; think; we think.—I think; asuraplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigasura

and by demons; and of the demons; and the demons; demon; demons; for the demons; O King of the demons; of demons; of demons, or godless persons; of the demons; the atheists; the demons.-varyaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigvarya

of the chief; the best; the chief.—O King of the asuras; dehināmplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigdehinam

of the embodied; the embodied; the living entity.—of persons who have accepted the material body; sadāplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigsada

always; at all times; constantly; eternally.—always; samudvignaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigsamudvigna

full of anxieties.—full of anxieties; dhiyāmplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigdhiyam

by intelligence.—whose intelligence; asatplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigasat

all temporary and bad; although long dead (and although no one knows that the soul has gone); bad; cause; effect; falls; illusory; impermanent; impermanent, transient; impudence; material happiness; materialistic; mischievous; nonbeing; nondevotee; nonmanifestation; nonpermanent; nonpermanent things; not real; noumenal; perishable; temporary; the cause; the effect; the foolish; unmanifested; unpalatable; unreal; untenable; useless; vicious; which are always prone to material consciousness; which is nonexistent, as the cause.-grahātplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_biggrahat

from the mouth of a crocodile.—because of accepting the temporary body or bodily relations as real (thinking “I am this body, and everything belonging to this body is mine”); hitvāplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bighitvā

after giving up; after quitting; disregarding; giving up (all these ambitions and paraphernalia); giving up; having given up; leaving aside; leaving behind; losing; passing over; quitting; rejecting; they can nonetheless give up.—giving up; ātmaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigatma

and of the soul; and of the Supersoul (Paramātmā); and the mind; body; by a manifestation of Yourself; by the body and mind; by the Supreme Personality of Godhead; by themselves; by Yourself; heart; Himself; his; in Himself; in the body; in the living entities; into the self; living being; mind; of all living entities; of Himself; of one's self; of spiritual knowledge; of the mind; of the mind and senses; of the soul; of the Supreme; one's own; own; personal; self; self-realized; soul; spirit; Supersoul; the body and mind; the devotees are the Lord's heart and soul; the mind; the mind and body; the self; the spirit; the Supersoul; the Supreme Personality of Godhead; the Supreme Self; the tree of work; to the body; upon the Supersoul; within; Yourself; ātmā.-pātamplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigpatam

putting on the steps.—the place where spiritual culture or self-realization is stopped; gṛhamplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_biggṛham

a house; for his home; from one house; his own palace; home; house; household life; houses; on the airplane which resembled a big house; the bodily concept of life, or household life; the home; the home life; the house; to another house; to the place of the teachers (Ṣaṇḍa and Amarka); to your home; within the palace.—the bodily concept of life, or household life; andhaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigandha

a blind man; blind; blinded.-kūpamplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigkūpam

a well.—which is nothing but a blind well (where there is no water but one nonetheless searches for water); vanamplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigvanam

a forest; another forest; for the forest; forest; forest near Kuṭakācala; forests; in the forest; into a forest; into the forest; retired life; the forest; to another forest; to the forest; within the forest.—to the forest; gataḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_biggatah

acted; accepted; accepts; achieved; acted; approached; arrived; attained; attained by; being placed; being situated in that position; being situated there; by passing over; departed; Durvāsā Muni, who had left that place; entered; goes; going; going there; gone; gone away; gone to; had gone; has accepted; have attained; have gone; having become; having entered; having gone; having gone there; having gone to; having obtained; he came; he has gone; he went; I am; is seated; left; left that place; must have gone; obtained; reaching; returned; situated; undergoes; undergone; used to go; wasted; went; went away; went off; went out; went there; who reached; you became; you have come.—going; yatplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigyat

which; about whom; all these; all those; although; and as; and whichever; anything; as; as a matter of fact; as it is; as its; as much as; as they are; because; because of; because of which; because of whom; by the result of which; by the Supreme Lord; by which; by which way; by whom (the Supreme Lord); by whom; by whose; by whose merciful; even though; everything that was required; fixed under Your direction; for; for which; from both of whom; from him; from which; from whom; from whose; from Yuyudha; he whose; his; His eternal form which; his son; if; in which; in whom; inasmuch as; Kṛṣṇa; now further; of him (Somāpi); of him; of Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune; of the fire-gods; of the Lord; of the Supreme Lord; of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; of which (the intermediate space); of which; of whom (of the Supreme Lord); who; who is; whom; whose; whose form; Your.—which; harimplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigharim

at Hari; Hari; Kṛṣṇa; Lord Hari (Śrī Kṛṣṇa); Lord Hari; Lord Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead; Lord Viṣṇu; Lord Śrī Hari; of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; on the Supreme Personality of Godhead; the Lord; the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead; the Personality of Godhead; the Supreme Lord; the Supreme Personality of Godhead; the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari; to the Supreme Personality of Godhead; unto Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead; unto the Lord; unto the Supreme Lord; unto the Supreme Lord, the controller; unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead; unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari; who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead (the form of the Lord being identical with the Lord); Śrī Kṛṣṇa.—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; āśrayetaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigāśrayeta

may take shelter of.—may take shelter of. ¶

Prahlāda Mahārāja replied: O best of the asuras, King of the demons, as far as I have learned from my spiritual master, any person who has accepted a temporary body and temporary household life is certainly embarrassed by anxiety because of having fallen in a dark well where there is no water but only suffering. One should give up this position and go to the forest [vana]. More clearly, one should go to Vṛndāvana, where only Kṛṣṇa consciousness is prevalent, and should thus take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. ¶

Hiraṇyakaśipu thought that Prahlāda, being nothing but a small boy with no actual experience, might reply with something pleasing but nothing practical. Prahlāda Mahārāja, however, being an exalted devotee, had acquired all the qualities of education. ¶

yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā
sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ
harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā
manorathenāsati dhāvato bahiḥ

“One who has unflinching devotional faith in Kṛṣṇa consistently manifests all the good qualities of Kṛṣṇa and the demigods. However, he who has no devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead has no good qualifications because he is engaged by mental concoction in material existence, which is the external feature of the Lord.” (SB 5.18.12)plugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigŚrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.18.12

All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavor of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord's external energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man? So-called educated philosophers and scientists who are simply on the mental platform cannot distinguish between what is actually sat, eternal, and what is asat, temporary. The Vedic injunction is asato mā jyotir gama: everyone should give up the platform of temporary existence and approach the eternal platform. The soul is eternal, and topics concerning the eternal soul are actually knowledge. Elsewhere it is said, apaśyatām ātma-tattvaṁ gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām: [SB 2.1.2]plugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigŚrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.2

Those persons who are materially engrossed, being blind to the knowledge of ultimate truth, have many subject matters for hearing in human society, O Emperor. those who are attached to the bodily conception of life and who thus stick to life as a gṛhastha, or householder, on the platform of material sense enjoyment, cannot see the welfare of the eternal soul. Prahlāda Mahārāja confirmed this by saying that if one wants success in life, he should immediately understand from the right sources what his self-interest is and how he should mold his life in spiritual consciousness. One should understand himself to be part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa and thus completely take shelter of His lotus feet for guaranteed spiritual success. Everyone in the material world is in the bodily conception, struggling hard for existence, life after life. Prahlāda Mahārāja therefore recommended that to stop this material condition of repeated birth and death, one should go to the forest (vana). ¶

In the varṇāśrama system, one first becomes a brahmacārī, then a gṛhastha, a vānaprastha and finally a sannyāsī. Going to the forest means accepting vānaprastha life, which is between gṛhastha life and sannyāsa. As confirmed in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (3.8.9), varṇāśramācāravatā puruṣeṇa paraḥ pumān viṣṇur ārādhyate: [Cc. Madhya 8.58]plugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigŚrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 8.58

"The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Viṣṇu, is worshiped by the proper execution of prescribed duties in the system of varṇa and āśrama. There is no other way to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One must be situated in the institution of the four varṇas and āśramas." by accepting the institution of varṇa and āśrama, one can very easily elevate himself to the platform of worshiping Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Otherwise, if one remains in the bodily conception, one must rot within this material world, and his life will be a failure. Society must have divisions of brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra, and for spiritual advancement one must gradually develop as a brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsī. Prahlāda Mahārāja recommended that his father accept vānaprastha life because as a gṛhastha he was becoming increasingly demoniac due to bodily attachment. Prahlāda recommended to his father that accepting vānaprastha life would be better than going deeper and deeper into gṛham andha-kūpam, the blind well of life as a gṛhastha. In our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement we therefore invite all the elderly persons of the world to come to Vṛndāvana and stay there in retired life, making advancement in spiritual consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. ¶