Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 3.12.41
Manvantara· The Manus and right dutySocial Life Should Support Self-Realization
“Education, charity, penance and truth are said to be the four legs of religion, and to learn this there are four orders of life with different classifications of castes according to vocation. Brahmā created all these in systematic order.”
What the purport teaches
- Education, charity, penance and truth are the four legs of religion. Brahmā systematically created the social divisions and orders of life for the regular promotion of self-realization.
- Student life is for education; household life allows sense gratification with charity. Retired life is for spiritual penance, and renounced life is for preaching the Absolute Truth.
- Education should purify the animal propensities of human beings. The highest purificatory process is knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the purest of the pure.
Try this today
Set aside five minutes today to study the teaching about the Supreme Personality of Godhead in this purport.
Ask yourself
How can my present duties become more favorable for self-realization?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
The study points, practice and question are short summaries drawn from Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport. Read the full purport to go deeper.