SB 5.16.3
bhagavato gunamaye sthula-rupa avesitam mano hy agune ’pi suksmatama atma-jyotisi pare brahmani bhagavati
vasudevakhye ksamam avesitum tad u haitad guro ’rhasy anuvarnayitum iti.
Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
When the mind is fixed upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His external feature made of the material modes of nature — the gross universal form — it is brought to the platform of pure goodness. In that transcendental position, one can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva, who in His subtler form is self-effulgent and beyond the modes of nature. O my lord, please describe vividly how that form, which covers the entire universe, is perceived.
Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
Maharaja Pariksit had already been advised by his spiritual master, Sukadeva Gosvami, to think of the universal form of the Lord, and therefore, following the advice of his spiritual master, he continuously thought of that form. The universal form is certainly material, but because everything is an expansion of the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, ultimately nothing is material. Therefore Pariksit Maharaja’s mind was saturated with spiritual consciousness. Srila Rupa Gosvami has stated:
prapañcikataya buddhya
hari-sambandhi-vastunah
mumuksubhih parityago
vairagyam phalgu kathyate
Everything, even that which is material, is connected with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore everything should be engaged in the service of the Lord. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura translates this verse as follows:
hari-sevaya yaha haya anukula
visaya baliya tahara tyage haya bhula
“One should not give up anything connected with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, thinking it material or enjoyable for the material senses.” Even the senses, when purified, are spiritual. When Maharaja Pariksit was thinking of the universal form of the Lord, his mind was certainly situated on the transcendental platform. Therefore although he might not have had any reason to be concerned with detailed information of the universe, he was thinking of it in relationship with the Supreme Lord, and therefore such geographical knowledge was not material but transcendental. Elsewhere in Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.5.20) Narada Muni has said, idam hi visvam bhagavan ivetarah: the entire universe is also the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although it appears different from Him. Therefore although Pariksit Maharaja had no need for geographical knowledge of this universe, that knowledge was also spiritual and transcendental because he was thinking of the entire universe as an expansion of the energy of the Lord.
In our preaching work also, we deal with so much property and money and so many books bought and sold, but because these dealings all pertain to the Krsna consciousness movement, they should never be considered material. That one is absorbed in thoughts of such management does not mean that he is outside of Krsna consciousness. If one rigidly observes the regulative principle of chanting sixteen rounds of the maha-mantra every day, his dealings with the material world for the sake of spreading the Krsna consciousness movement are not different from the spiritual cultivation of Krsna consciousness.