Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 4.22.31
Ūti· What drives us to actRemember Your Original Spiritual Identity
“When one deviates from his original consciousness, he loses the capacity to remember his previous position or recognize his present one. When remembrance is lost, all knowledge acquired is based on a false foundation. When this occurs, learned scholars consider that the soul is lost.”
What the purport teaches
- The soul is eternal and cannot actually be lost. It is called lost when proper spiritual knowledge is no longer working.
- Animals also have souls; without the soul, a body cannot move. Gross ignorance hides awareness of spiritual identity but does not remove the soul.
- Our original consciousness is Kṛṣṇa consciousness because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Forgetting this position leads us to identify with the body and act on a false foundation.
Try this today
Take one quiet minute today to remember: “I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, not a product of material elements.”
Ask yourself
Am I basing my understanding of myself mainly on my body or on my relationship with Kṛṣṇa?
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.