Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 5.17.12
Sthāna· The universe in orderDevotional Absorption Surpasses Sensual Pleasure
“In these eight varṣas, or tracts of land, human beings live ten thousand years according to earthly calculations. All the inhabitants are almost like demigods. They have the bodily strength of ten thousand elephants. Indeed, their bodies are as sturdy as thunderbolts. The youthful duration of their lives is very pleasing, and both men and women enjoy sexual union with great pleasure for a long time. After years of sensual pleasure — when a balance of one year of life remains — the wife conceives a child. Thus the standard of pleasure for the residents of these heavenly regions is exactly like that of the human beings who lived during Tretā-yuga.”
What the purport teaches
- The inhabitants of these eight varṣas live ten thousand earthly years and have extraordinary strength. Their enjoyment resembles that of people in Tretā-yuga.
- In Satya-yuga, people were absorbed in samādhi for spiritual understanding and realization of God, without interest in material sense enjoyment. Material miseries began in Dvāpara-yuga and became severe in Kali-yuga.
- In these heavenly varṣas, pregnancy occurs only once in a lifetime, near life's end. In the spiritual world, the exalted devotional attitude leaves people with very little attraction to sex life.
Try this today
Set aside five minutes usually spent seeking sensory pleasure and use them for quiet attention to spiritual understanding.
Ask yourself
How might deeper devotional absorption change what I seek pleasure in?
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.