Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 3.27.23
Mukti· LiberationDevotional Service Consumes Material Bondage
“The influence of material nature has covered the living entity, and thus it is as if the living entity were always in a blazing fire. But by the process of seriously discharging devotional service, this influence can be removed, just as wooden sticks which cause a fire are themselves consumed by it.”
What the purport teaches
- Material influence makes conditioned life like a blazing fire. Serious devotional service removes that influence, just as fire consumes the wooden sticks from which it arises.
- The desire to lord it over material nature and the desire to become one with the Supreme Lord are forms of material contamination. Careful devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness consumes their cause.
- A devotee may appear to work or study like others, but the purpose is the Supreme Lord’s satisfaction. Work and inquiry directed toward the Supreme Personality of Godhead do not carry the same material effects.
Try this today
Before one task today, consciously make Kṛṣṇa’s satisfaction your purpose rather than personal enjoyment or control.
Ask yourself
Is my work or study meant for my own supremacy, or for the Supreme Lord’s satisfaction?
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.