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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

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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 3: Kṛṣṇa Is the Source of All Incarnations

1.3.36 1.3.38

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 1.3.37

Īśānukathā· The Lord and His devotees

Who is speaking and story frame

Speaking:Sūta Gosvāmīsince 1.3.1inside 1 frame: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at Naimiṣāraṇya

न चास्य कश्चिन्निपुणेन धातु-

रवैति जन्तु: कुमनीष ऊती: ।

नामानि रूपाणि मनोवचोभि:

सन्तन्वतो नटचर्यामिवाज्ञ: ॥ ३७ ॥

na cāsya kaścin nipuṇena dhātur

avaiti jantuḥ kumanīṣa ūtīḥ

nāmāni rūpāṇi mano-vacobhiḥ

santanvato naṭa-caryām ivājñaḥ

Translation

The foolish with a poor fund of knowledge cannot know the transcendental nature of the forms, names and activities of the Lord, who is playing like an actor in a drama. Nor can they express such things, neither in their speculations nor in their words.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

The Lord Is Beyond Material Speculation

1
The transcendental nature of the Absolute Truth is beyond the expression of mind and speech. Imperfect mental speculation cannot reveal His names, forms and activities.
2
Mental speculators mistakenly assume that anything with a name, form and activities must be material. Thus they consider the Supreme Spirit formless, nameless and inactive.
3
The Lord remains transcendental even when He is within the material world. To consider Him merely one of the world’s great personalities is to be misled by illusion.

Key points from the purport

And yet there are some men, with a poor fund of knowledge, who desire to understand the Absolute Truth by imperfect mental speculation and faulty description of His activities.
The fruitive workers have practically no information of the Absolute Truth, and the mental speculators, after being frustrated in fruitive activities, turn their faces towards the Absolute Truth and try to know Him by mental speculation.
With such a poor fund of knowledge, there is no access to the real nature of the Supreme Being.

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

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 3: Kṛṣṇa Is the Source of All Incarnations

Sūta describes the Lord’s incarnations and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as His literary incarnation.

Back to this verse in chapter 1.3

Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

nanot
caand
asyaof Him
kaścitanyone
nipuṇenaby dexterity
dhātuḥof the creator
avaitican know
jantuḥthe living being

Key ideas in this verse

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

Īśānukathā · The science of God
Who is the Lord, and how do His devotees live? · Subject 7 of 10
Jñāna · Spiritual insight
Inquiry, revelation and discrimination between self and matter. · Theme in SB 1.3
In this verse: “knowledge”, “absolute truth”
Moha · Material attachment
The pull of ego, desire and impermanent relationships. · Theme in SB 1.3
In this verse: “illusion”, “material”

Chapter themes come from the story phase this chapter belongs to.

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

Do I sometimes judge the Lord’s form and activities by the limits of my material experience?

Practice

Reread the translation slowly, remembering that the Lord’s names, forms and activities are not material.

The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

Live this todayThe Lord Is Beyond Material SpeculationThis 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 1.3.37? Get an answer from the verses themselves.

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