Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 10.20.49
Mukti· LiberationSpiritual Perfection Leads to One’s Destination
“The merchants, sages, kings and brahmacārī students, kept in by the rain, were at last free to go out and attain their desired objects, just as those who achieve perfection in this life can, when the proper time comes, leave the material body and attain their respective forms.”
What the purport teaches
- After being confined by the rains, merchants, sages, kings and brahmacārī students could go out and attain their desired objects. Autumn in Vṛndāvana was especially beautiful because of the presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma.
- Similarly, perfected transcendentalists attain their respective destinations after leaving the material body. The jñānī merges into the Supreme Lord’s spiritual effulgence, while the yogī goes to higher planets.
- The devotee goes to the Supreme Lord’s planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana or one of the Vaikuṇṭhas. There the devotee enjoys eternal spiritual life.
Try this today
Spend a minute reflecting on eternal spiritual life with the Supreme Lord as the goal of your devotional service.
Ask yourself
How does the devotee’s destination help clarify the goal of my spiritual practice?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
From Canto 10, chapter 14 onward, the translation and purports were completed by Śrīla Prabhupāda's disciples after his departure, and published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.