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Read one verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam with its Sanskrit, word meanings, translation and study points.

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Canto 1 · Creation · 19 chapters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Choose a chapter to see all its verses.

How to study this verse, in six steps

1Chant the verse. Say the Sanskrit slowly and carefully.
2Read the word meanings. Go through each Sanskrit word and its meaning.
3Find the meaning yourself. Before the translation, piece the meaning together from the words.
4Read the translation. Ask: what is the Lord teaching here, and how does it apply to my life?
5Read the purport slowly. Read it two or three times. Don't rush.
6Write down what touched you. Note the main points in your own notebook.

Read the full guide: how to hear the Bhāgavatam ›

Canto 1 · Chapter 2: Divinity and Divine Service

1.2.10 1.2.12

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 1.2.11

Āśraya· The supreme shelter

Who is speaking and story frame

Speaking:Sūta Gosvāmīsince 1.2.2inside 1 frame: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at Naimiṣāraṇya

वदन्ति तत्तत्त्वविदस्तत्त्वं यज्ज्ञानमद्वयम् ।

ब्रह्मेति परमात्मेति भगवानिति शब्द्यते ॥ ११ ॥

vadanti tat tattva-vidas

tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam

brahmeti paramātmeti

bhagavān iti śabdyate

Translation

Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

One Absolute Truth, Three Features

1
Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān are three features of the same nondual Absolute Truth. They are different views of one substance, not competing truths.
2
Bhagavān, the Personality of Godhead, is the fullest realization of the Absolute Truth. Paramātmā is His partial representation, and Brahman is His glowing effulgence.
3
The living entities belong to the superior, spiritual energy, while the material world is inferior energy. Contact with material energy leads the living being to mistakenly think he belongs to it.

Key points from the purport

In the relative world the knower is different from the known, but in the Absolute Truth both the knower and the known are one and the same thing.
Therefore, there is a duality of inferior and superior energy, whereas in the absolute realm both the knower and the known are of the same superior energy.
In the Absolute there is no such sense of difference between the knower and the known, and therefore everything there is absolute.

Śrīla Prabhupāda's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.

Connected verses· 5

Quoted in the purport ofSB 4.22.25

Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān can all be taken in total as Brahman, but when there is reference to the word bhakti or remembrance of the transcendental qualities, this indicates the Supreme Personality of Godhead, not the impersonal Brahman.

Quoted in the purport ofSB 4.30.30

According to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.11), the Supreme Lord is the ultimate fact of the Absolute Truth.

Quoted in the purport ofSB 4.30.31

Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate: the Absolute Truth is realized first as impersonal Brahman, then as Paramātmā, and finally as Bhagavān.

Quoted in the purport ofSB 5.12.11

bhagavān iti śabdyate. From the very beginning, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says, satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi: we meditate on the supreme truth.

Quoted in the purport ofSB 6.4.47

As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.11): “Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.”

Each link is a verse the purport itself quotes, or a purport elsewhere that quotes this verse, shown with the purport's own words.

How it feels

Concern → Purpose. A spiritually urgent question emerges for the age of Kali.

Chapters 1–3 of Canto 1: The sages ask the ultimate questions. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 2: Divinity and Divine Service

Sūta explains how hearing about Kṛṣṇa and rendering devotional service purify the heart.

Back to this verse in chapter 1.2

Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

vadantithey say
tatthat
tattva-vidaḥthe learned souls
tattvamthe Absolute Truth
yatwhich
jñānamknowledge
advayamnondual
brahma itiknown as Brahman

Key ideas in this verse

The subject this verse serves and the themes it speaks of.

Āśraya · The summum bonum
Who is the shelter of everything? · Subject 10 of 10
Jñāna · Spiritual insight
Inquiry, revelation and discrimination between self and matter. · Theme in SB 1.2
In this verse: “absolute truth”
Moha · Material attachment
The pull of ego, desire and impermanent relationships. · Theme in SB 1.2
In this verse: “material”

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

How does understanding Bhagavān as the fullest realization deepen my view of the Absolute Truth?

Practice

Write one sentence each describing Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān as explained in this purport.

The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

Śrīla Prabhupāda speaks

His recorded lectures on this verse, and the talks where he quotes it.

4 lectures given on it · quoted in 151 more lectures. Recordings and transcripts on prabhupada.io.

Show 2 more lectures on it

Quoted in 151 other lectures

In each of these he quotes this verse while speaking on another verse or subject. "Find the quote" opens the transcript at that spot.

Live this todayOne Absolute Truth, Three FeaturesThis verse's lesson: one practice and one question for today

Study points are short summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport on Vedabase.

Ask the BhāgavatamHave a question about SB 1.2.11? Get an answer from the verses themselves.

Next in Learn · 5 of 11 · 2 minAsk the BhāgavatamBring your own question. Get an answer drawn only from the Bhāgavatam's translations, with every verse shown.Back · LearnCantos & stories