Live Caitanya Caritamrta · CC Antya 16.108-109
Ordinary Ingredients and Material Enjoyment
“Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “These ingredients, such as sugar, camphor, black pepper, cardamom, cloves, butter, spices and licorice, are all material. Everyone has tasted these material substances before.”
What the purport teaches
- Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu described ingredients such as sugar, camphor, black pepper and cardamom as material substances already familiar to everyone.
- The word prākṛta refers to things tasted for the sense gratification of the conditioned soul. Such things are limited by material laws.
- The Lord’s point was that materially absorbed persons interested only in sense gratification had already experienced these material things.
Try this today
Take a moment today to reflect on what it means to taste something only for sense gratification.
Ask yourself
When tasting food, am I concerned only with satisfying my senses?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
The study points are short summaries drawn from Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport; the practice and question are plain words for trying the verse today.