Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.22.38
Ūti· What drives us to actMaterial Absorption Obscures Our Eternal Relationship
“The mind, bound to the reactions of fruitive work, always meditates on the objects of the senses, both those that are seen in this world and those that are heard about from Vedic authority. Consequently, the mind appears to come into being and to suffer annihilation along with its objects of perception, and thus its ability to distinguish past and future is lost.”
What the purport teaches
- Bound by reactions to fruitive work, the mind meditates on sense objects seen in this world or heard about from Vedic authority.
- At death, the mind leaves its familiar objects and enters another body to experience new ones. Although a new mind seems to arise, the same mind is experiencing differently.
- The constant flow of material experience overwhelms the conditioned soul and obscures remembrance of his relationship with God. Identification with this world brings forgetfulness of eternal identity and surrender to the false ego created by māyā.
Try this today
Interrupt one material daydream today and spend a quiet moment remembering your eternal relationship with God.
Ask yourself
Which recurring material thoughts distract me from remembering my relationship with God?
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.