Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 3.25.13
Mukti· LiberationBhakti-yoga Transcends Material Happiness and Distress
“The Personality of Godhead answered: The yoga system which relates to the Lord and the individual soul, which is meant for the ultimate benefit of the living entity, and which causes detachment from all happiness and distress in the material world, is the highest yoga system.”
What the purport teaches
- Material happiness is always mixed with distress. Even an enjoyable result requires trouble and is followed by further distress.
- The highest yoga relates the individual soul to the Lord and serves the living entity’s ultimate benefit. Kṛṣṇa teaches bhakti-yoga as the best yoga.
- Yoga is the science of the spirit, meant to bring perfection on the spiritual platform. Its goal is beyond material happiness and distress, not a better arrangement of material pleasure.
Try this today
When a pleasure or difficulty arises today, pause and practice tolerating it without letting it turn you away from devotional service.
Ask yourself
Am I seeking only material comfort, or a relationship with the Lord beyond happiness and distress?
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.