Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 10.87.40
Mukti· LiberationHear the Lord’s Glories Every Day
“When a person realizes You, he no longer cares about his good and bad fortune arising from past pious and sinful acts, since it is You alone who control this good and bad fortune. Such a realized devotee also disregards what ordinary living beings say about him. Every day he fills his ears with Your glories, which are recited in each age by the unbroken succession of Manu’s descendants, and thus You become his ultimate salvation.”
What the purport teaches
- Pure devotees constantly hear and chant about the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Holding firmly to His lotus feet in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they work only for His pleasure rather than becoming absorbed in good or bad fortune.
- A humble Vaiṣṇava absorbed in glorifying the Lord pays little attention to personal praise and accepts criticism as appropriate. Others’ opinions do not displace the pleasure of devotional service.
- Authorized glorification comes through faithful hearing from the disciplic succession of saintly Vaiṣṇavas. The Lord is merciful even to a beginning devotee who falls because of past bad habits; He does not reject that devotee.
Try this today
Spend five minutes today reading aloud the Lord’s glories from this passage, with the intention of pleasing Him.
Ask yourself
How can daily hearing about the Lord help me become less dependent on praise or favorable circumstances?
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.