Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 5.14.18
Ūti· What drives us to actSocial Duties Can Deepen Material Entanglement
“In household life one is ordered to execute many yajñas and fruitive activities, especially the vivāha-yajña [the marriage ceremony for sons and daughters] and the sacred thread ceremony. These are all the duties of a gṛhastha, and they are very extensive and troublesome to execute. They are compared to a big hill over which one must cross when one is attached to material activities. A person desiring to cross over these ritualistic ceremonies certainly feels pains like the piercing of thorns and pebbles endured by one attempting to climb a hill. Thus the conditioned soul suffers unlimitedly.”
What the purport teaches
- Household ceremonies and social obligations can become extensive, costly and troublesome. The verse compares fulfilling them to climbing a hill covered with thorns and sharp pebbles.
- Material attachment keeps a person captivated by these duties even without sufficient resources. Maintaining social standing then demands hard work for money and brings further suffering.
- The purport recommends preparation through austerity in brahmacarya rather than becoming trapped in household attachment. Its cited instruction points toward taking shelter of the Lord, not relying on a supposedly comfortable family position.
Try this today
Review one upcoming social expense and identify any part motivated mainly by prestige; pause that part and take a quiet moment to seek the Lord's shelter.
Ask yourself
Which social obligation draws me into spending or working beyond my means for prestige?
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.