Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 7.15.29
Mukti· LiberationMaterial Wealth Is Not Spiritual Advancement
“As professional activities or business profits cannot help one in spiritual advancement but are a source of material entanglement, the Vedic ritualistic ceremonies cannot help anyone who is not a devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
What the purport teaches
- Becoming rich through professional work, trade or agriculture does not mean becoming spiritually advanced. The purpose of life is to become spiritually rich.
- Material engagements can attract one to unnecessary necessities and bring the risk of a degraded future birth. Material prosperity alone does not fulfill the human mission.
- Ritualistic ceremonies cannot help someone who lacks devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A show of religion without Kṛṣṇa consciousness may bring popularity but does not fulfill life’s goal.
Try this today
Identify one unnecessary necessity you are pursuing and set aside that pursuit today to give attention to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Ask yourself
Am I measuring progress by material success or by devotion?
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.