Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.5.9
Ūti· What drives us to actOur Attractive Qualities Belong to the Lord
“The intelligence of cruel-minded persons is blinded by false pride based on great wealth, opulence, prestigious family connections, education, renunciation, personal beauty, physical strength and successful performance of Vedic rituals. Being intoxicated with this false pride, such cruel persons blaspheme the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His devotees.”
What the purport teaches
- Wealth, education, beauty, strength and even renunciation can become sources of false pride. Such pride blinds the intelligence and leads to disrespect for the Lord and His devotees.
- All attractive qualities originally belong to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The living entity briefly reflects a portion of His opulences, just as moonshine reflects the sun’s effulgence.
- Those who forget the source of their qualities become intoxicated with pride. By criticizing the Lord and His devotees, they deepen their own fallen condition.
Try this today
Name one quality you value in yourself and pause to acknowledge that it originally belongs to the Supreme Lord.
Ask yourself
Which quality do I take pride in without remembering its original source?
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.