Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.7.70
Ūti· What drives us to actSeparation Makes the Pigeon’s Life Seem Empty
“Now I am a wretched person living in an empty home. My wife is dead; my children are dead. Why should I possibly want to live? My heart is so pained by separation from my family that life itself has become simply suffering.”
What the purport teaches
- The pigeon saw himself as a wretched person left in an empty home.
- Believing his wife and children dead, he questioned why he should want to live.
- His heart was so pained by separation that life itself seemed only suffering.
Try this today
Write one sentence describing how the pigeon’s dependence on family happiness shaped his despair.
Ask yourself
What does this lament reveal about making family companionship my sole reason for living?
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.