Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.26.34
Īśānukathā· The Lord and His devoteesDevotees Open Our Eyes of Knowledge
“My devotees bestow divine eyes, whereas the sun allows only external sight, and that only when it is risen in the sky. My devotees are one’s real worshipable deities and real family; they are one’s own self, and ultimately they are nondifferent from Me.”
What the purport teaches
- The sun gives only external sight, and only when it is risen. Saintly devotees open our eyes of knowledge through the light of their words, destroying ignorance.
- Devotees are our real friends and relatives, our own self, and ultimately nondifferent from the Lord.
- Saintly devotees are the proper recipients of service. The gross material body merely clamors for sense gratification.
Try this today
Offer one small act of service to a devotee today rather than simply attending to a demand for sense gratification.
Ask yourself
Am I valuing devotees’ guidance, or holding firmly to ideas that keep me in ignorance?
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.