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Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 10.51.49

Nirodha· Winding up

The Lord Remains Alert Amid Our Delusion

“A man obsessed with thoughts of what he thinks needs to be done, intensely greedy, and delighting in sense enjoyment is suddenly confronted by You, who are ever alert. Like a hungry snake licking its fangs before a mouse, You appear before him as death.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda · Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.51.49, translation

What the purport teaches

  • Those trying to exploit the material world are deluded and maddened by desire. They become absorbed in plans, greed and sense enjoyment.
  • The Lord remains alert, sober and unbewildered. He suddenly confronts the absorbed materialist as death, like a hungry snake approaching a mouse.
  • We may deny God or His laws, but the Lord does not fail to reward or punish us according to the quality of our activities.

Try this today

Before one action today, pause to examine whether it is driven by greed or disregard for God’s laws.

Ask yourself

How would remembering the Lord’s watchfulness change one choice I am making today?

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.

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