The expression “MONEY is honey” also originates in the Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.13.36. This chapter is called the Behavior of a Perfect Person and describes the encounter and conversation of King Prahlada and the Avadhuta Brahmin practicing ajagara-vritti or imitating the python who lies down for many days and is satisfied with whatever is achieved in its own way.

The Sanskrit is madhuvat vittam. We have danda-vat, like a stick and here we have madhu-vat, as good as honey.

Madhu-vat means as good as honey and vittam means MONEY. Whence “Money is as good as honey.”

We just have to use the money strictly in the service of Lord Narayana, the husband of the Goddess of Fortune. Then money will not “be the cause of lamentation, illusion, fear, anger, material attachment, material poverty and unnecessary hard work.” SB 7.13.34

“As far as our Krsna consciousness movement is concerned, we are getting money naturally, by the grace of God, by selling our literature. This literature is not sold for our sense gratification; to spread the Krsna consciousness movement we need so many things, and Krsna is therefore supplying us the requisite money to advance this mission. The mission of Krsna is to spread Krsna consciousness all over the world, and for this purpose we naturally must have sufficient money. Therefore, according to the advice of Srila Rupa Gosvami Prabhupada, we should not give up attachment to money that can spread the Krsna consciousness movement. Srila Rupa Gosvami says in his Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (1.2.256):

prapancikataya buddhya
hari-sambandhi-vastunah
mumuksubhih parityago
vairagyam phalgu kathyate

“When persons eager to achieve liberation renounce things related to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, thinking them to be material, their renunciation is called incomplete.” Money that can help in spreading the Krsna consciousness movement is not a part of the material world, and we should not give it up, thinking that it is material. Srila Rupa Gosvami advises:

anasaktasya visayan
yatharham upayunjatah
nirbandhah krsna-sambandhe
yuktam vairagyam ucyate

“When one is not attached to anything, but at the same time accepts everything in relation to Krsna, one is rightly situated above possessiveness.” (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.255) Money is undoubtedly coming in great quantities, but we should not be attached to this money for sense gratification; every cent should be spent for spreading the Krsna consciousness movement, not for sense gratification. There is danger for a preacher when he receives great quantities of money, for as soon as he spends even a single cent of the collection for his personal sense gratification, he becomes a fallen victim. The preachers of the Krsna consciousness movement should be extremely careful not to misuse the immense quantities of money needed to spread this movement. Let us not make this money the cause of our distress; it should be used for Krsna, and that will cause our eternal happiness. Money is Laksmi, or the goddess of fortune, the companion of Narayana. Laksmiji must always remain with Narayana, and then there need be no fear of degradation. SB 7.13.32

In SB 7.13.34, Srila Prabhupada also sums up the structure of modern civilisation as opposed to Vedic society:”

“In the demoniac civilization of the present day, however, there is no question of brahmins or ksatriyas; there are only so-called workers and a flourishing mercantile class who have no goal in life.“

Ref. VedaBase => SB 7.13.34