Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.8.36
Nirodha· Winding upTemporary Enjoyment Cannot Give Lasting Happiness
“Men provide sense gratification for women, but all these men, and even the demigods in heaven, have a beginning and an end. They are all temporary creations who will be dragged away by time. Therefore how much actual pleasure or happiness could any of them ever give to their wives?”
What the purport teaches
- Men and even the demigods in heaven have a beginning and an end. Time eventually takes them all away.
- The purport explains that everyone in the material world is pursuing personal sense gratification while being overcome by time.
- Piṅgalā discovers that so-called material love is a cheating process. Relationships based on sense gratification cannot provide the actual happiness she seeks.
Try this today
Notice one expectation of personal enjoyment you place on another person, and reflect on its temporary nature.
Ask yourself
Am I expecting lasting happiness from someone who is also subject to time?
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.