Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 10.70.28
Ūti· What drives us to actReal Happiness Comes Through Selfless Service
“O Lord, with this corpselike body, always full of fear, we bear the burden of the relative happiness of kings, which is just like a dream. Thus we have rejected the real happiness of the soul, which comes by rendering selfless service to You. Being so very wretched, we simply suffer in this life under the spell of Your illusory energy.”
What the purport teaches
- The kings admit that their own foolishness has brought suffering. They exchanged the eternal happiness of the soul for the temporary, conditional happiness of royal position.
- Desiring wealth, power, prestige or aristocratic family at the expense of the soul is a similar mistake. The kings mistook the tremendous anxiety of political leadership for happiness.
- Real happiness comes from selfless service to the Lord. Under His illusory energy, the kings neglected that happiness and carried a dreamlike burden instead.
Try this today
Set aside one pursuit of praise today and spend a few minutes in selfless service to Kṛṣṇa.
Ask yourself
Am I mistaking an anxious pursuit of position or prestige for happiness?
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.