Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.19.26
Ūti· What drives us to actMaterial Fixation Brings Misfortune
“When consciousness is fixed on the material body, home and other, similar objects of sense gratification, one spends one’s life chasing after material objects with the help of the senses. Consciousness, thus powerfully affected by the mode of passion, becomes dedicated to impermanent things, and in this way irreligion, ignorance, attachment and wretchedness arise.”
What the purport teaches
- When consciousness is fixed on the body, home and objects of sense gratification, life becomes a chase after material objects. Passion dedicates the mind to things that cannot last.
- Passion can grow so strong that one commits sinful activities and reaps many kinds of misfortune. Irreligion, ignorance, attachment and wretchedness arise from this material fixation.
- Materialistic people may be blind to their impending suffering, but scripture, observation, traditional wisdom and reasoning confirm the disastrous results of violating God’s laws. This is the opposite of the auspicious results of fixing the mind in Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Try this today
Pause one unnecessary pursuit of sense gratification today and turn your attention to Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Ask yourself
What temporary object is drawing my mind into a restless chase?
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.