Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 5.14.3
Ūti· What drives us to actAttachment Can Consume Carefully Guarded Wealth
“My dear King, family members in this material world go under the names of wife and children, but actually they behave like tigers and jackals. A herdsman tries to protect his sheep to the best of his ability, but the tigers and foxes take them away by force. Similarly, although a miserly man wants to guard his money very carefully, his family members take away all his assets forcibly, even though he is very vigilant.”
What the purport teaches
- The verse compares a man guarding his wealth to a herdsman protecting sheep. Despite his vigilance, family members take away the assets he tries to preserve.
- The purport describes household expenses and attachment to sexual pleasure as draining the husband’s hard-earned resources and vitality. Yet his attachment keeps him absorbed in maintaining that situation.
- Children are also compared to animals that carry away the herdsman’s lambs. The warning is that carefully supervising money does not protect it from the demands of attached family life.
Try this today
Review one household expense today and notice whether attachment is driving it.
Ask yourself
Where do attachment and the wish to guard my money pull me in opposite directions?
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.