Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 5.18.10
Mukti· LiberationChoose Devotee Association and Simple Living
“My dear Lord, we pray that we may never feel attraction for the prison of family life, consisting of home, wife, children, friends, bank balance, relatives and so on. If we do have some attachment, let it be for devotees, whose only dear friend is Kṛṣṇa. A person who is actually self-realized and who has controlled his mind is perfectly satisfied with the bare necessities of life. He does not try to gratify his senses. Such a person quickly advances in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whereas others, who are too attached to material things, find advancement very difficult.”
What the purport teaches
- Prahlāda Mahārāja prays to avoid attachment to materialistic association. If he must be attached to someone, he wishes to be attached to a devotee.
- The body must be maintained for executing devotional service, not for unnecessarily increasing sense enjoyment. A devotee is satisfied with the necessities of life.
- Eating simply, accepting kṛṣṇa-prasāda, helps keep the demands of the tongue from increasing. Growing demands for material enjoyment can stop our real business of advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Try this today
Offer Kṛṣṇa a little fruit or water with love and devotion, and accept it as kṛṣṇa-prasāda.
Ask yourself
Which unnecessary demand of my senses takes attention away from devotional service?
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.