Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 5.14.27
Ūti· What drives us to actUse Human Life for Spiritual Freedom
“In this materialistic life, there are many difficulties, as I have just mentioned, and all of these are insurmountable. In addition, there are difficulties arising from so-called happiness, distress, attachment, hate, fear, false prestige, illusion, madness, lamentation, bewilderment, greed, envy, enmity, insult, hunger, thirst, tribulation, disease, birth, old age and death. All these combine together to give the materialistic conditioned soul nothing but misery.”
What the purport teaches
- To pursue sense gratification, the conditioned soul accepts fear, greed, disease, old age, death and many other troubles. Even so-called happiness brings difficulties.
- The human form is meant for release from material bondage. Prestige and learning do not constitute actual knowledge if one does not know how to regain spiritual life.
- Pride and refusal to surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead keep one bound. Forgetting one’s relationship with Kṛṣṇa, one wastes time and energy searching for material happiness.
Try this today
Pause one pursuit of status or sense pleasure today and spend a few minutes reflecting on your relationship with Kṛṣṇa.
Ask yourself
Are my ambitions helping me recover my relationship with Kṛṣṇa, or merely increasing my 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.