Srimad-Bhagavatam, Second Canto Quotes

“The actions of māyā are such that a powerful person, misled by the illusory, material energy, wrongly accepts himself as all in all and does not develop God consciousness.”
― A.C. Prabhupāda, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Second Canto

“The devotees of the Lord, while delivering speeches and describing the transcendental attributes of the Lord, do not think that they can do anything independently. They think that they can speak only what they are induced to speak by the Supreme Lord, the master of the senses. The senses of the individual being are not his own; the devotee knows that such senses belong to the Supreme Lord and that they can be properly used when they are employed for the service of the Lord. The senses are instruments, and elements are ingredients, all endowed by the Lord; therefore whatever an individual can do, speak, see, etc., is under the direction of the Lord only.”
― A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Second Canto

“The crucial test of hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is that one should get positive enlightenment by such an act.”
― A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Second Canto

“The ass is an animal who is celebrated as the greatest fool, even amongst the animals. The ass works very hard and carries burdens of the maximum weight without making profit for itself.* The ass is generally engaged by the washerman, whose social position is not very respectable. And the special qualification of the ass is that it is very much accustomed to being kicked by the opposite sex. When the ass begs for sexual intercourse, he is kicked by the fair sex, yet he still follows the female for such sexual pleasure. A henpecked man is compared, therefore, to the ass. The general mass of people work very hard, especially in the Age of Kali. In this age the human being is actually engaged in the work of an ass, carrying heavy burdens and driving ṭhelā and rickshaws. The so-called advancement of human civilization has engaged a human being in the work of an ass. The laborers in great factories and workshops are also engaged in such burdensome work, and after working hard during the day, the poor laborer has to be again kicked by the fair sex, not only for sex enjoyment but also for so many household affairs. So”
― A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Second Canto

“The camel is a kind of animal that takes pleasure in eating thorns. A person who wants to enjoy family life or the worldly life of so-called enjoyment is compared to the camel. Materialistic life is full of thorns, and so one should live only by the prescribed method of Vedic regulations just to make the best use of a bad bargain. Life in the material world is maintained by sucking one’s own blood. The central point of attraction for material enjoyment is sex life. To enjoy sex life is to suck one’s own blood, and there is not much more to be explained in this connection. The camel also sucks its own blood while chewing thorny twigs. The thorns the camel eats cut the tongue of the camel, and so blood begins to flow within the camel’s mouth. The thorns, mixed with fresh blood, create a taste for the foolish camel, and so he enjoys the thorn-eating business with false pleasure. Similarly, the great business magnates, industrialists who work very hard to earn money by different ways and questionable means, eat the thorny results of their actions mixed with their own blood. Therefore the Bhāgavatam has situated these diseased fellows along with the camels.”
― A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Second Canto

“Modern university education practically prepares one to acquire a doggish mentality with which to accept the service of a greater master. After finishing a so-called education, the so-called educated persons move like dogs from door to door with applications for some service, and mostly they are driven away, informed of no vacancy. As dogs are negligible animals and serve the master faithfully for bits of bread, a man serves a master faithfully without sufficient rewards”
― A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Second Canto

“Human life is simply awarded to a living entity (jīva) so that he can realize his spiritual identity and his permanent source of happiness.”
― A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Second Canto

“Desireless means, therefore, not to be inert like the stone, but to be conscious of one’s actual position and thus desire satisfaction only from the Supreme Lord.”
― A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Second Canto

“Senses are called spiritually purified when they are not involved in sense gratification. Senses require engagements, and when the senses are engaged totally in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, they have no chance to become contaminated by material infections.”
― A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Second Canto

“PURPORT This”
― A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Second Canto