Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 10.85.41-43
Īśānukathā· The Lord and His devoteesAttraction to the Lord Surpasses Material Goodness
“Many who had been constantly absorbed in enmity toward You ultimately became attracted to You, who are the direct embodiment of transcendental goodness and whose divine form comprises the revealed scriptures. These reformed enemies include Daityas, Dānavas, Gandharvas, Siddhas, Vidyādharas, Cāraṇas, Yakṣas, Rākṣasas, Piśācas, Bhūtas, Pramathas and Nāyakas, and also ourselves and many others like us. Some of us have become attracted to You because of exceptional hatred, while others have become attracted because of their mood of devotion based on lust. But the demigods and others infatuated by material goodness feel no such attraction for You.”
What the purport teaches
- The Lord is the direct embodiment of transcendental goodness. Even some who constantly regarded Him as their enemy became so absorbed in Him that their fixed consciousness earned them liberation.
- Bali places himself among those who associate with the Lord while desiring position and prestige. Yet Lord Viṣṇu favored him by becoming his doorkeeper in Sutala, and favored the Gandharvas by engaging them in singing His glories.
- Those demigods who are proud of their material goodness receive sense gratification from the Lord. They thus become deluded and forget Him.
Try this today
Spend a minute praising the Lord’s glories, setting aside thoughts of your own position or prestige.
Ask yourself
Does my sense of being good help me remember the Lord, or make me proud and forgetful?
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.