Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 10.81.21-23
Poṣaṇa· The Lord's protectionSudāmā Marvels at His Transformed Home
“[Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued:] Thinking thus to himself, Sudāmā finally came to the place where his home stood. But that place was now crowded on all sides with towering, celestial palaces rivaling the combined brilliance of the sun, fire and the moon. There were splendorous courtyards and gardens, each filled with flocks of cooing birds and beautified by ponds in which kumuda, ambhoja, kahlāra and utpala lotuses grew. Finely attired men and doe-eyed women stood in attendance. Sudāmā wondered, “What is all this? Whose property is it? How has this all come about?””
What the purport teaches
- Sudāmā arrived where his home stood and found towering celestial palaces, splendid gardens, lotus-filled ponds and finely dressed attendants.
- Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī explains that Sudāmā first noticed an unfamiliar brilliance and wondered what it was. Then, seeing the palaces, he wondered whose place it was.
- When Sudāmā recognized the place as his own, he wondered how it had become so transformed.
Try this today
Slowly reread Sudāmā’s three questions and pause to picture his surprise.
Ask yourself
What does Sudāmā’s sequence of questions reveal about his astonishment?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
From Canto 10, chapter 14 onward, the translation and purports were completed by Śrīla Prabhupāda's disciples after his departure, and published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.