Immediate vs Ultimate Good – Lecture by Srila Prabhupada

Iskcon Bangalore Group April, 03 2012 — Lecture by Srila Prabhupada on Bhagavad gita 1.31 delivered on July 24, 1973 in London

So there are two things, sreyas and preyas. Here Arjuna is speaking of sreyas. Sreyas means ultimate good, and preyas means immediately palatable. That is called preyas. So everyone should be interested for sreyas, not for preyas. Just like a child, he likes to play all day and night. Naturally. Playful child. So that is called preyas. He likes immediate pleasure. But his father says, “My dear child, just go to school or read book.”

So father is asking for sreyas, ultimate good. If he is not educated at the, at childhood, then how he will prosper in his future life? So considering the future prospect, ultimate good, that is called sreyas. And preyas means immediate. Just like we eat something which I may not digest, or it may have some bad effect later on. But people are interested — the immediate benefit, without calculation of future benefit.

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