Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.21.7
Manvantara· The Manus and right dutyAccept Restraint for Lasting Spiritual Good
“O saintly Uddhava, in order to restrict materialistic activities, I have established that which is proper and improper among all material things, including time, space and all physical objects.”
What the purport teaches
- The conditioned soul often calls immediate bodily satisfaction good and inconvenience bad. Higher intelligence considers long-term benefit, just as one accepts bitter medicine to cure disease.
- Vedic distinctions between proper and improper restrict materialistic activities and gradually bring one to goodness. Submission to these instructions also diminishes false pride.
- Material goodness makes one eligible for service, but mundane piety alone cannot bring one back to Godhead. Loving service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness brings direct contact with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Try this today
Choose a meal today without meat, fish or eggs, remembering that such restraint supports progress toward the Lord’s service.
Ask yourself
What immediate pleasure might I need to restrain for my lasting spiritual benefit?
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.