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

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Canto 10 · The Summum Bonum · 90 chapters

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How to study this verse, in six steps
  1. 1Chant the verse. Say the Sanskrit slowly and carefully.
  2. 2Read the word meanings. Go through each Sanskrit word and its meaning.
  3. 3Find the meaning yourself. Before the translation, piece the meaning together from the words.
  4. 4Read the translation. Ask: what is the Lord teaching here, and how does it apply to my life?
  5. 5Read the purport slowly. Read it two or three times. Don't rush.
  6. 6Write down what touched you. Note the main points in your own notebook.
Read the full guide: how to hear the Bhāgavatam ›
Canto 10 · Chapter 1: The Advent of Lord Kṛṣṇa: Introduction
10.1.4010.1.42

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 10.1.41

Ūti· What drives us to act
Who is speaking and story frame
Speaking:Vasudevasince 10.1.37inside 2 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King Parīkṣit

स्वप्ने यथा पश्यति देहमीद‍ृशंमनोरथेनाभिनिविष्टचेतन: । द‍ृष्टश्रुताभ्यां मनसानुचिन्तयन्प्रपद्यते तत् किमपि ह्यपस्मृति: ॥ ४१ ॥

svapne yathā paśyati deham īdṛśaṁ

manorathenābhiniviṣṭa-cetanaḥ

dṛṣṭa-śrutābhyāṁ manasānucintayan

prapadyate tat kim api hy apasmṛtiḥ

Translation

Having experienced a situation by seeing or hearing about it, one contemplates and speculates about that situation, and thus one surrenders to it, not considering his present body. Similarly, by mental adjustments one dreams at night of living under different circumstances, in different bodies, and forgets his actual position. Under this same process, one gives up his present body and accepts another [tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ].

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Train the Mind in Kṛṣṇa’s Service

  1. 1

    Dreams show how the mind can become absorbed in another body and forget its present situation. When the gross body returns to the material elements, the mind continues to work, and the soul does not die.

  2. 2

    Consciousness must be purified from material absorption to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Fixing the mind at Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet draws the other senses into His service; this is bhakti.

  3. 3

    Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, controls remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. Even if a devotee’s mind works imperfectly at death, Kṛṣṇa can give that devotee shelter at His lotus feet rather than another material body.

Key points from the purport
  • One must fix the mind at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours a day.
  • Therefore when a devotee gives up his body, the mind does not take him to another material body (tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti); rather, Kṛṣṇa takes the devotee to that place where He is engaged in His pastimes (mām eti), as we have already discussed in previous verses.
  • Otherwise the mind will carry the soul to another material body.

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

The purport of SB 10.1.41 quotesBG 9.34

For everyone, therefore, Kṛṣṇa recommends in Bhagavad-gītā (9.34), man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru.

The purport of SB 10.1.41 quotesCC Madhya 20.108-109

Jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya-kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’. To act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the perfection of life and the highest perfection of yoga.

The purport of SB 10.1.41 quotesBG 6.47

As Lord Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā (6.47): “Of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.”

The purport of SB 10.1.41 quotesBG 8.6

“Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail.”

The purport of SB 10.1.41 quotesBG 14.26

As Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā (14.26): “One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.”

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

Terror → Wonder and relief. The threat of destruction yields to divine appearance.

Chapters 1–4 of Canto 10: Threat from Kaṁsa and Kṛṣṇa's birth. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Further reading

Chapter 1: The Advent of Lord Kṛṣṇa: Introduction

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

Every living entity lives in a body for some time and then transmigrates to another body, but one is unfortunately misled into accepting the body as the soul. If a person under this mistaken conception wants to kill another body, he is condemned as hellish.
Read the whole chapter summaryBack to this verse in chapter 10.1
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Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. svapnein a dream
  2. yathāas
  3. paśyatione sees
  4. dehamthe kind of body
  5. īdṛśamsimilarly
  6. manorathenaby mental speculation
  7. abhiniviṣṭais fully absorbed
  8. cetanaḥhe whose consciousness
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Key ideas in this verse

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

  • Ūti · The creative impetus

    Why do we act, and what keeps us bound? · Subject 5 of 10

  • Śaraṇāgati · Wholehearted surrender

    Relinquishing ownership while entrusting oneself to the Lord. · Theme in SB 10.1

    In this verse: “surrenders”, “shelter”

  • Bhakti · Devotion and loving service

    How devotion reorganizes desire and action. · Theme in SB 10.1

    In this verse: “devotee’s”, “bhakti”

  • Kīrtana · Hearing and chanting

    Remembering the Lord through sacred sound. · Theme in SB 10.1

    In this verse: “hearing”

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

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Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

What temporary concerns occupy your mind, and how could you turn some of that attention toward Kṛṣṇa?

Practice

Pause today to think of Kṛṣṇa and offer Him obeisances, with the intention of becoming absorbed in His service.

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The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

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Connected stories

Keep going: stories told elsewhere in the Bhāgavatam that this verse or its purport brings in.

Found where this verse or Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport names them. See all of chapter 10.1's connections

Live this todayTrain the Mind in Kṛṣṇa’s ServiceThis 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 10.1.41? Get an answer from the verses themselves.
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