Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.10.27-29
Ūti· What drives us to actControl the Senses and Choose Devotion
“If a human being is engaged in sinful, irreligious activities, either because of bad association or because of his failure to control his senses, then such a person will certainly develop a personality full of material desires. He thus becomes miserly toward others, greedy and always anxious to exploit the bodies of women. When the mind is so polluted one becomes violent and aggressive and without the authority of Vedic injunctions slaughters innocent animals for sense gratification. Worshiping ghosts and spirits, the bewildered person falls fully into the grip of unauthorized activities and thus goes to hell, where he receives a material body infected by the darkest modes of nature. In such a degraded body, he unfortunately continues to perform inauspicious activities that greatly increase his future unhappiness, and therefore he again accepts a similar material body. What possible happiness can there be for one who engages in activities inevitably terminating in death?”
What the purport teaches
- The path of nivṛtti-mārga renounces material sense gratification and purifies existence through austerity and devotional activities. The regulated enjoyment of pravṛtti-mārga is risky because it can deepen addiction rather than detachment.
- Bad association or failure to control the senses can lead to sinful life. Even in good association, each person remains responsible for controlling the senses.
- Uncontrolled desires foster greed, exploitation and cruelty, leading to further suffering and repeated material bodies. No length of material life removes the fear of death or brings true happiness.
Try this today
Set aside one opportunity for unnecessary sense gratification today and use that time for a devotional activity.
Ask yourself
Which influence or uncontrolled habit is drawing me away from devotional activities?
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.