Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 9.4.15-16
Mukti· LiberationMaterial Opulence Is Temporary
“Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, the most fortunate personality, achieved the rule of the entire world, consisting of seven islands, and achieved inexhaustible, unlimited opulence and prosperity on earth. Although such a position is rarely obtained, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa did not care for it at all, for he knew very well that all such opulence is material. Like that which is imagined in a dream, such opulence will ultimately be destroyed. The King knew that any nondevotee who attains such opulence merges increasingly into material nature’s mode of darkness.”
What the purport teaches
- Mahārāja Ambarīṣa attained rule over the entire world and unlimited prosperity, yet he did not care for these rare achievements.
- A devotee knows that material opulence is temporary, like something imagined in a dream. Therefore such opulence is insignificant to the devotee.
- A nondevotee regards temporary happiness as everything and forgets self-realization. Material opulence then increases bondage and becomes a disqualification for spiritual advancement.
Try this today
Choose one possession you value and remind yourself that it is temporary, not the goal of self-realization.
Ask yourself
Am I treating any temporary comfort or possession as though it were everything?
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.