Verse Text
dhana-śiṣyādibhir dvārair yā bhaktir upapādyate |
vidūratvād uttamatā-hānyā tasyāś ca nāṅgatā ||259||
Translation
That bhakti which is accomplished by dependence on wealth, followers or other objects cannot be considered as an aṅga of uttama-bhakti because it destroys the pure nature of that bhakti. It is situated far away from uttama-bhakti.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
…Among the aṅgas of bhakti, wealth and the other items are generally not needed for hearing and chanting. The excellence of bhakti is destroyed when it depends on wealth and followers. For instance, in deity worship, one person may feel that he cannot perform all the services for the deity at once by himself and thus depend on followers. However, this danger is not present in all aṅgas of bhakti.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
In the phrase jṣāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (not covered by jṣāna, karma or other things), “other things” includes laxness in execution of bhakti. Bhakti accomplished through wealth and followers indicates this negligence or inattentiveness. Such execution cannot be accepted as an aṅga of uttama-bhakti.
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
The spiritual master must never be carried away by an accumulation of wealth or a large number of followers. A bona fide spiritual master will never become like that. But sometimes, if a spiritual master is not properly authorized and only on his own initiative becomes a spiritual master, he may be carried away by an accumulation of wealth and large numbers of disciples. His is not a very high grade of devotional service. If a person is carried away by such achievements, then his devotional service becomes slackened. One should therefore strictly adhere to the principles of disciplic succession.