Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 4.9.12
Mukti· LiberationDevotee Association Loosens Bodily Attachment
“O Lord who have a lotus navel, if a person happens to associate with a devotee whose heart always hankers after Your lotus feet, seeking always their fragrance, he is never attached to the material body or, in a bodily relationship, to offspring, friends, home, wealth and wife, which are very, very dear to materialistic persons. Indeed, he does not care for them.”
What the purport teaches
- Devotees enjoy the Lord’s transcendental pastimes through hearing, chanting and glorifying them. At the same time, they become less attached to their material bodies.
- A devotee knows that he is not the body. Therefore, bodily happiness and distress, and the happiness and distress arising from bodily relationships, do not govern his spiritual life.
- By seeking the association of a pure devotee, one advances in spiritual consciousness. This freedom from attachment develops through association with one whose heart always longs for the Lord’s lotus feet.
Try this today
When a bodily comfort or discomfort captures your attention today, pause and remember, “I am not the body,” then spend a moment hearing the Lord’s glories.
Ask yourself
How might remembering that I am not the body change my response to happiness or 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.