Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.8.30
Ūti· What drives us to actRecognize the Illusion of Sense Enjoyment
“The prostitute Piṅgalā said: Just see how greatly illusioned I am! Because I cannot control my mind, just like a fool I desire lusty pleasure from an insignificant man.”
What the purport teaches
- Piṅgalā recognizes her illusion: with an uncontrolled mind, she had sought lusty pleasure from an insignificant man.
- Indifference to the Absolute Truth is the cause of material life. The conditioned soul imagines himself the lord and enjoyer and takes sense gratification as life’s purpose.
- The more one tries to enjoy the material world, the more illusion increases. Piṅgalā now admits that her pursuit of lovers had been foolish.
Try this today
Pause before one pleasure-seeking impulse today and ask whether following it will deepen your illusion.
Ask yourself
Where am I treating sense gratification as though it were the purpose of my life?
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.