Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 7.13.31
Ūti· What drives us to actMaterial Success Cannot End Suffering
“Materialistic activities are always mixed with three kinds of miserable conditions — adhyātmika, adhidaivika and adhibautika. Therefore, even if one achieves some success by performing such activities, what is the benefit of this success? One is still subjected to birth, death, old age, disease and the reactions of his fruitive activities.”
What the purport teaches
- Material life brings miseries from the body and mind, other living entities, and natural disturbances. Material profit does not free us from these troubles.
- Even someone who accumulates wealth must face death and leave unfinished plans behind. According to one’s mental condition, material nature provides another body in which to pursue desires.
- Under the illusory energy, we consider plans for material happiness extremely valuable. A sensible person questions the value of labor that ends in disappointment.
Try this today
Write down one material ambition and one form of suffering that achieving it would not remove.
Ask yourself
What do I expect material success to solve that it cannot actually remove?
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.