Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.7.69
Ūti· What drives us to actRemembered Companionship Deepens the Pigeon’s Grief
“My wife and I were an ideal match. She always faithfully obeyed me and in fact accepted me as her worshipable deity. But now, seeing her children lost and her home empty, she has left me behind and gone to heaven with our saintly children.”
What the purport teaches
- The pigeon remembered his wife as an ideal match who had always faithfully obeyed him.
- He recalled that she had accepted him as her worshipable deity.
- In his lament, he described her as leaving him behind and going to heaven with their saintly children.
Try this today
Read the pigeon’s words slowly, noticing how his memories of companionship deepen his sense of separation.
Ask yourself
What does the pigeon’s lament show about the pain of losing cherished companionship?
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.