Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 5.26.10
Ūti· What drives us to actFamily Maintenance Does Not Justify Harming Others
“A person who accepts his body as his self works very hard day and night for money to maintain his own body and the bodies of his wife and children. While working to maintain himself and his family, he may commit violence against other living entities. Such a person is forced to give up his body and his family at the time of death, when he suffers the reaction for his envy of other creatures by being thrown into the hell called Raurava.”
What the purport teaches
- The purport distinguishes bodily identification from committing sins to maintain the body. Thinking the body to be the self is ignorance, but cheating and envy bring further consequences.
- A person who harms other living entities to maintain himself and his family must leave both body and family at death. He then suffers the reaction in Raurava.
- Animals identify with their bodies but do not commit sins to maintain themselves or their offspring, and therefore do not go to hell. Human beings are accountable for envious and dishonest actions.
Try this today
Review one way you earn or obtain money, and correct any dishonesty or needless harm you notice.
Ask yourself
Have I used my own needs or my family’s needs to excuse dishonesty or harm?
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.