Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 7.1.24
Ūti· What drives us to actBodily Identification Creates Friends and Enemies
“My dear King, the conditioned soul, being in the bodily conception of life, considers his body to be his self and considers everything in relationship with the body to be his. Because he has this wrong conception of life, he is subjected to dualities like praise and chastisement.”
What the purport teaches
- The conditioned soul wrongly accepts the body as the self. Everything related to the body is then considered “mine.”
- Only through this bodily identification does one feel the effects of praise and chastisement.
- One then labels one person an enemy and another a friend, wishing to punish one and welcome the other. This division arises from the bodily conception of life.
Try this today
Recall one recent reaction to praise or criticism and identify how bodily pride influenced it.
Ask yourself
Have praise or harsh words led me to label someone a friend or an enemy?
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.