Live Caitanya Caritamrta · CC Madhya 11.8
Cross the Material Ocean Through Spiritual Life
“Greatly lamenting, the Lord then informed Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, “ ‘Alas, for a person who is seriously desiring to cross the material ocean and engage in the transcendental loving service of the Lord without material motives, seeing a materialist engaged in sense gratification or seeing a woman who is similarly interested is more abominable than drinking poison willingly.’””
What the purport teaches
- Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu states principles for a sannyāsī renouncing the material world for spiritual advancement. For one seeking loving service without material motives, seeing people absorbed in sense gratification is compared to willingly drinking poison.
- Spiritual advancement is not meant for magic shows and jugglery, but for crossing the material world and entering the spiritual world.
- The Vaitaraṇī River is compared to the great ocean of repeated birth and death. Spiritual life aims at ending this repetition and entering the spiritual world, where one can live eternally cognizant and blissful.
Try this today
Take a quiet minute today to reflect on loving service to the Lord, and identify one material motive you wish to leave behind.
Ask yourself
How does the aim of loving service without material motives help you understand spiritual advancement?
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.