Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 3.30.6
Ūti· What drives us to actMaterial Attachment Is Not Spiritual Perfection
“Such satisfaction with one’s standard of living is due to deep-rooted attraction for body, wife, home, children, animals, wealth and friends. In such association, the conditioned soul thinks himself quite perfect.”
What the purport teaches
- Deep-rooted attraction to body, family, home, animals, wealth and friends makes the conditioned soul feel completely satisfied.
- This sense of having achieved perfection is a mental concoction. Material qualifications alone do not raise a person to the spiritual level.
- Remaining on the mental plane draws one back into temporary material existence. Satisfaction in society, friendship and love does not by itself free one from that condition.
Try this today
Write down one material condition you associate with a perfect life, and acknowledge that it cannot by itself bring spiritual advancement.
Ask yourself
Do I measure perfection mainly by my possessions, relationships or material qualifications?
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.