Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 6.1.51
Ūti· What drives us to actSurrender Frees Us from Material Entanglement
“The subtle body is endowed with sixteen parts — the five knowledge-acquiring senses, the five working senses, the five objects of sense gratification, and the mind. This subtle body is an effect of the three modes of material nature. It is composed of insurmountably strong desires, and therefore it causes the living entity to transmigrate from one body to another in human life, animal life and life as a demigod. When the living entity gets the body of a demigod, he is certainly very jubilant, when he gets a human body he is always in lamentation, and when he gets the body of an animal, he is always afraid. In all conditions, however, he is actually miserable. His miserable condition is called saṁsṛti, or transmigration in material life.”
What the purport teaches
- The subtle body has sixteen parts and is an effect of the three modes of material nature. Its strong desires carry the living entity from one body to another.
- The living entity struggles alone, life after life, experiencing jubilation, lamentation and fear. This material conditional life is called saṁsṛti.
- The force of material nature is insurmountably strong. Yet surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead frees the living entity from this entanglement and makes life successful.
Try this today
Take a quiet moment today to ask the Supreme Personality of Godhead for shelter from material entanglement.
Ask yourself
Am I seeking only a more comfortable material situation, or freedom through surrender to the Lord?
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.