Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 9.19.5-6
Ūti· What drives us to actRemember the Real Business of Human Life
“When the she-goat, who had very nice hips, got out of the well and saw the very handsome he-goat, she desired to accept him as her husband. When she did so, many other she-goats also desired him as their husband because he had a very beautiful bodily structure and a nice mustache and beard and was expert in discharging semen and in the art of sexual intercourse. Therefore, just as a person haunted by a ghost exhibits madness, the best of the he-goats, attracted by the many she-goats, engaged in erotic activities and naturally forgot his real business of self-realization.”
What the purport teaches
- Attracted by many she-goats, the he-goat became absorbed in erotic activities and forgot self-realization. The purport compares domination by lust to being haunted by a ghost.
- Sexual enjoyment does not fully satisfy the materialistic householder. Human beings are meant for self-realization rather than merely bodily pleasure.
- One should understand that one is not the body but the spiritual soul within it. Cultivating this knowledge helps free one from bodily entanglement.
Try this today
Spend two quiet minutes reflecting: “I am not the body; I am the spiritual soul within it.”
Ask yourself
What most often makes you forget that you are a spiritual soul rather than the body?
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.