Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 7.12.29-30
Mukti· LiberationTrace Material Designations to Their Source
“The mind, along with all material desires, should be merged in the moon demigod. All the subject matters of intelligence, along with the intelligence itself, should be placed in Lord Brahmā. False ego, which is under the influence of the material modes of nature and which induces one to think, “I am this body, and everything connected with this body is mine,” should be merged, along with material activities, in Rudra, the predominating deity of false ego. Material consciousness, along with the goal of thought, should be merged in the individual living being, and the demigods acting under the modes of material nature should be merged, along with the perverted living being, into the Supreme Being. The earth should be merged in water, water in the brightness of the sun, this brightness into the air, the air into the sky, the sky into the false ego, the false ego into the total material energy, the total material energy into the unmanifested ingredients [the pradhāna feature of the material energy], and at last the ingredient feature of material manifestation into the Supersoul.”
What the purport teaches
- The mind and material desires should be merged in the moon demigod. Intelligence and its subjects should be placed in Lord Brahmā.
- False ego produces the thoughts “I am this body” and “everything connected with this body is mine.” It should be merged, together with material activities, in Rudra.
- Material consciousness should be merged in the individual living being, and the demigods and materially conditioned living being into the Supreme Being. The material elements should be merged successively into their sources, ultimately into the Supersoul.
Try this today
Notice one thought of bodily ownership today and identify it as the false ego described in this verse.
Ask yourself
Which of my thoughts most clearly expresses the bodily ideas of “I” and “mine”?
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.