Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.9.12
Mukti· LiberationBeyond the Modes to the Supreme Lord
“The mind can be controlled when it is fixed on the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Having achieved a stable situation, the mind becomes free from polluted desires to execute material activities; thus as the mode of goodness increases in strength, one can completely give up the modes of passion and ignorance, and gradually one transcends even the material mode of goodness. When the mind is freed from the fuel of the modes of nature, the fire of material existence is extinguished. Then one achieves the transcendental platform of direct relationship with the object of his meditation, the Supreme Lord.”
What the purport teaches
- The uncontrolled mind and the interaction of the three modes create obstacles to spiritual advancement. Fixing the mind on the Supreme Personality of Godhead gives it a stable shelter.
- As goodness grows stronger, the mind gradually gives up passion, ignorance and desires for material activities. One must then rise beyond even material goodness to the spiritual platform.
- Freedom from material desires does not mean merging into an impersonal existence. It means reaching a direct relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the reservoir of all pleasure.
Try this today
Set aside a quiet minute to fix your attention on the Supreme Lord as the reservoir of all pleasure.
Ask yourself
Do I think of spiritual freedom merely as relief, or as a relationship with the Supreme Lord?
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.