Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.28.15
Mukti· LiberationThe Pure Soul’s Nature Is Loving Service
“Lamentation, elation, fear, anger, greed, confusion and hankering, as well as birth and death, are experiences of the false ego and not of the pure soul.”
What the purport teaches
- False ego is the pure soul’s illusory identification with the material mind and body.
- This identification produces lamentation, elation, fear, anger, greed and other material emotions. Bewildered by attractions and aversions, the conditioned soul accepts further bodies and repeated birth and death.
- A self-realized person knows that these mundane emotions do not belong to the pure soul. The soul’s natural propensity is loving service to the Lord.
Try this today
When you notice elation over a gain or lamentation over a loss today, pause and redirect your attention to one small act of service to the Lord.
Ask yourself
When gain or loss stirs strong emotions, can I remember the soul’s natural inclination toward loving service?
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.