Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.22.33
Sarga· CreationReplace False Ego With Service
“When the three modes of nature are agitated, the resultant transformation appears as the element false ego in three phases — goodness, passion and ignorance. Generated from the mahat-tattva, which is itself produced from the unmanifest pradhāna, this false ego becomes the cause of all material illusion and duality.”
What the purport teaches
- False ego arises from the mahat-tattva when the three modes of nature are agitated. It appears in goodness, passion and ignorance.
- Because of false ego, one considers oneself the enjoyer of nature. This produces bewilderment and a false sense of duality in material happiness and distress.
- False ego is removed by identifying oneself as the Lord’s eternal servitor. Giving up identification with the modes brings one to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the pure, original state of existence.
Try this today
Before one task today, pause and approach it as service to Kṛṣṇa rather than as an opportunity for personal enjoyment.
Ask yourself
When do I think of myself as the enjoyer rather than the Lord’s servant?
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.