SB 5.1.38
para-devata-prasadadhigatatma-pratyavamarsenanupravrttebhyah putrebhya imam yatha-dayam vibhajya bhukta-bhogam ca mahisim mrtakam iva saha maha-vibhutim apahaya svayam nihita-nirvedo hrdi grhita-hari-viharanubhavo bhagavato naradasya padavim punar evanusasara.
Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
By the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Maharaja Priyavrata reawakened to his senses. He divided all his earthly possessions among his obedient sons. He gave up everything, including his wife, with whom he had enjoyed so much sense gratification, and his great and opulent kingdom, and he completely renounced all attachment. His heart, having been cleansed, became a place of pastimes for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus he was able to return to the path of Krsna consciousness, spiritual life, and resume the position he had attained by the grace of the great saint Narada.
Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
As enunciated by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in His Siksastaka, ceto-darpana-marjanam bhava-maha-davagni-nirvapanam: as soon as one’s heart is cleansed, the blazing fire of material existence is immediately extinguished. Our hearts are meant for the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This means that one should be fully Krsna conscious, thinking of Krsna, as He Himself advises (man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru). This should be our only business. One whose heart is not clean cannot think of the transcendental pastimes of the Supreme Lord, but if one can once again place the Supreme Personality of Godhead in his heart, he very easily becomes qualified to renounce material attachment. Mayavadi philosophers, yogis and jñanis try to give up this material world simply by saying, brahma satyam jagan mithya: “This world is false. There is no use of it. Let us take to Brahman.” Such theoretical knowledge will not help us. If we believe that Brahman is the real truth, we have to place within our hearts the lotus feet of Sri Krsna, as Maharaja Ambarisa did (sa vai manah krsna-padaravindayoh). One has to fix the lotus feet of the Lord within his heart. Then he gets the strength to be freed from material entanglement.
Maharaja Priyavrata was able to give up his opulent kingdom, and he also gave up the association of his beautiful wife as if she were a dead body. However beautiful one’s wife and however attractive her bodily features, one is no longer interested in her when her body is dead. We praise a beautiful woman for her body, but that same body, when bereft of a spirit soul, is no longer interesting to any lusty man. Maharaja Priyavrata was so strong, by the grace of the Lord, that even though his beautiful wife was alive, he could give up her association exactly like one who is forced to give up the association of a dead wife. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said:
na dhanam na janam na sundarim
kavitam va jagadisa kamaye
mama janmani janmanisvare
bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi
“O almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor do I desire beautiful women, nor do I want any number of followers. I only want Your causeless devotional service birth after birth.” For one who desires to advance in spiritual life, attachment to material opulence and attachment to a beautiful wife are two great impediments. Such attachments are condemned even more than suicide. Therefore anyone desiring to cross beyond material nescience must, by the grace of Krsna, be freed from attachment to women and money. When Maharaja Priyavrata became completely free from these attachments, he could again peacefully follow the principles instructed by the great sage Narada.