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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

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 10 · Chapter 24: Worshiping Govardhana Hill

10.24.21 10.24.23

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 10.24.22

Visarga· Brahmā's creation

Who is speaking and story frame

Speaking:Lord Kṛṣṇasince 10.24.13inside 2 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King Parīkṣit

सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति स्थित्युत्पत्त्यन्तहेतव: । रजसोत्पद्यते विश्वमन्योन्यं विविधं जगत् ॥ २२ ॥

sattvaṁ rajas tama iti

sthity-utpatty-anta-hetavaḥ

rajasotpadyate viśvam

anyonyaṁ vividhaṁ jagat

Translation

The causes of creation, maintenance and destruction are the three modes of nature — namely goodness, passion and ignorance. In particular, the mode of passion creates this universe and through sexual combination causes it to become full of variety.

Read the purport on Vedabase.io

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.

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Recognizing a Mechanistic Explanation of Nature

1
The verse describes goodness, passion and ignorance as the causes of maintenance, creation and destruction.
2
In this explanation, passion produces the universe and fills it with variety through sexual combination.
3
The purport explains that Lord Kṛṣṇa introduces atheistic Sāṅkhya to anticipate an objection about dependence on Indra for rain. Attributing exclusive causality to nature’s apparently mechanical functions is an ancient tendency.

Key points from the purport

Anticipating the possible objection that a livelihood based on cows certainly depends on Lord Indra, who supplies rain, Lord Kṛṣṇa here introduces a mechanistic theory of existence known as atheistic Sāṅkhya.
The tendency to attribute exclusive causality to the apparently mechanistic functions of nature is an old tendency indeed.
Five thousand years ago Lord Kṛṣṇa referred to a doctrine already well known in human society.

The purport'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

Attraction and threat → Joy and trust. The pastoral world becomes the setting for protection and love.

Chapters 20–28 of Canto 10: Forest seasons, flute and Govardhana. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 24: Worshiping Govardhana Hill

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

The material modes of goodness, passion and ignorance bring about the creation, maintenance and destruction of this world. The clouds give forth rain when they are impelled by the mode of passion, and cowherds prosper by protecting the cows.

Read the whole chapter summary Back to this verse in chapter 10.24