Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 4.11.22
Ūti· What drives us to actPurify Desire Through Devotional Service
“The differentiation among varieties of life and their suffering and enjoyment is explained by some to be the result of karma. Others say it is due to nature, others due to time, others due to fate, and still others say that it is due to desire.”
What the purport teaches
- Living entities are eternal servants of God, but they become attracted by the desire to lord it over material nature. Forgetting their relationship with Him, they act and experience the results.
- Desire cannot be annihilated, because it is a symptom of the living entity. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura advises turning desire toward serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
- Desire becomes purified when employed in devotional service. This purification frees one from material contamination and ends wandering through different forms and conditions.
Try this today
Write down one desire and one small way to use it in the Lord’s service today.
Ask yourself
What desire could I redirect from controlling or enjoying toward serving the Lord?
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.