Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.12.9
Mukti· LiberationEffort Alone Cannot Award Devotional Perfection
“Even though one engages with great endeavor in the mystic yoga system, philosophical speculation, charity, vows, penances, ritualistic sacrifices, teaching of Vedic mantras to others, personal study of the Vedas, or the renounced order of life, still one cannot achieve Me.”
What the purport teaches
- Even great effort in yoga, philosophical study, charity, austerity or renunciation cannot by itself award Kṛṣṇa’s personal association.
- Association with those who live favorably with the Supreme Personality of Godhead can immediately award pure devotional service. The highest perfection requires the causeless mercy of His pure devotees.
- Duties performed according to one’s position are only useless labor if they do not awaken attraction for the Lord’s message. Spiritual effort should lead toward this attraction.
Try this today
Read a short passage about Kṛṣṇa today, then pause to consider what draws you toward Him.
Ask yourself
Is my spiritual effort increasing my attraction for the message of the Lord?
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.