Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 5.1.19
Mukti· LiberationTake Shelter and Serve the Lord
“Lord Brahmā continued: My dear Priyavrata, seek shelter inside the opening in the lotus of the feet of the Lord, whose navel is also like a lotus. Thus conquer the six sense organs [the mind and knowledge-acquiring senses]. Accept material enjoyment because the Lord, extraordinarily, has ordered you to do this. You will thus always be liberated from material association and be able to carry out the Lord’s orders in your constitutional position.”
What the purport teaches
- Only devotees are situated beyond material nature. Full devotional service carries one beyond the modes of material nature.
- The true fortress is the shelter of the Lord’s lotus feet, not family life. Like a bee protected within a lotus, a devotee finds protection in that shelter.
- Every living entity is constitutionally an eternal servant of God. Priyavrata was to accept material enjoyment only because the Lord ordered it, not for independent sense enjoyment.
Try this today
Before one responsibility today, pause and pray to carry it out as a servant of the Lord.
Ask yourself
How can I approach my responsibilities as service rather than as opportunities for personal enjoyment?
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.