Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.13.37
Mukti· LiberationMaintain the Body Without False Identification
“The material body certainly moves under the control of supreme destiny and therefore must continue to live along with the senses and vital air as long as one’s karma is in effect. A self-realized soul, however, who is awakened to the absolute reality and who is thus highly situated in the perfect stage of yoga, will never again surrender to the material body and its manifold manifestations, knowing it to be just like a body visualized in a dream.”
What the purport teaches
- The body continues with its senses and vital air as long as previous karma remains in effect. Its duration is under supreme destiny.
- One should not foolishly starve or injure the body. Instead, one should maintain it properly and patiently allow previous fruitive work to run its course.
- One highly elevated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness understands Lord Kṛṣṇa to be the actual reality. Such a person does not return to false identification with the body, which resembles a body seen in a dream.
Try this today
Attend to one ordinary bodily need today, remembering that proper maintenance need not mean bodily identification.
Ask yourself
Can I care for my body while remembering that it is not my actual identity?
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.