Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.28.33
Mukti· LiberationThe Eternal Self Never Changes
“Material nescience, which expands into many varieties by the activities of the modes of nature, is wrongly accepted by the conditioned soul to be identical with the self. But through the cultivation of spiritual knowledge, My dear Uddhava, this same nescience fades away at the time of liberation. The eternal self, on the other hand, is never assumed and never abandoned.”
What the purport teaches
- The eternal soul is never assumed or abandoned. It remains the same and does not undergo transformation.
- The modes of nature create the gross body and subtle mind according to previous fruitive activities. These coverings are imposed upon the soul.
- By cultivating spiritual knowledge, one gives up the ignorance of identifying material consciousness with the self.
Try this today
Reread the translation and identify one bodily or mental designation that is not your eternal self.
Ask yourself
Which changing feature of my body or mind do I tend to treat as my permanent identity?
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.