Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.17.56
Ūti· What drives us to actKṛṣṇa Consciousness Purifies Family Attachment
“But a householder whose mind is attached to his home and who is thus disturbed by ardent desires to enjoy his money and children, who is lusty after women, who is possessed of a miserly mentality and who unintelligently thinks, “Everything is mine and I am everything,” is certainly bound in illusion.”
What the purport teaches
- The attached householder thinks, “Everything is mine and I am everything.” Desires to enjoy money, children and women leave him disturbed and bound in illusion.
- Analytical or psychological efforts alone cannot free the mind from illusory family attachment. Unless Kṛṣṇa consciousness purifies the heart, the mind is drawn back into material attachment.
- A miserly householder thinks only of his own family or community, without mercy for outsiders. Egoism, lust and attachment bind him in a web of anxiety.
Try this today
Show one small act of kindness to someone outside your family or community today.
Ask yourself
Does my concern for my own family or community leave room for mercy toward others?
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.