Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 6.1.12
Mukti· LiberationGradual Purification Needs Kṛṣṇa’s Shelter
“My dear King, if a diseased person eats the pure, uncontaminated food prescribed by a physician, he is gradually cured, and the infection of disease can no longer touch him. Similarly, if one follows the regulative principles of knowledge, he gradually progresses toward liberation from material contamination.”
What the purport teaches
- Just as prescribed, uncontaminated food gradually cures disease, following the regulative principles of knowledge gradually purifies a person. Cultivating knowledge should go together with following the śāstras.
- The platform of knowledge is better than fruitive action, but it does not by itself remove all material contamination. Thinking oneself liberated or thinking oneself Bhagavān is another phase of ignorance.
- Even one who understands Brahman can fall down without taking shelter of Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet. Those cultivating knowledge nevertheless recognize sinful and pious conduct and cautiously follow the śāstras.
Try this today
Identify one instruction from this purport that you need today, and write how you will follow it.
Ask yourself
How can I pursue knowledge without becoming proud of my spiritual progress?
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.