Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.23.50
Mukti· LiberationReplace Harmful Anger with Spiritual Friendship
“If you say that these people are the cause of my happiness and distress, then where is the place of the soul in such a conception? This happiness and distress pertain not to the soul but to the interactions of material bodies. If someone bites his tongue with his own teeth, at whom can he become angry in his suffering?”
What the purport teaches
- Although the soul feels bodily pleasure and pain, one should tolerate this duality as a creation of the material mind. Biting one’s own tongue illustrates the futility of directing anger at another part.
- All living beings are individual parts and parcels of God, meant to serve Him in spiritual equality. Recognizing their shared connection with the Supreme Lord allows friendship to develop.
- Harmful anger injures oneself and others. The brāhmaṇa did not regard those helping or hurting him as the ultimate cause of his happiness and distress.
Try this today
In one tense interaction today, refrain from a hurtful reply and remember your shared purpose of serving the Supreme Lord.
Ask yourself
How might seeing another person as part of the Supreme Lord’s family soften my anger?
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.