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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 4: The Atrocities of King Kaṁsa

10.4.18 10.4.20

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 10.4.19

Mukti· Liberation

Who is speaking and story frame

Speaking:Śukadeva Gosvāmīsince 10.4.7inside 2 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King Parīkṣit

भुवि भौमानि भूतानि यथा यान्त्यपयान्ति च । नायमात्मा तथैतेषु विपर्येति यथैव भू: ॥ १९ ॥

bhuvi bhaumāni bhūtāni

yathā yānty apayānti ca

nāyam ātmā tathaiteṣu

viparyeti yathaiva bhūḥ

Translation

In this world, we can see that pots, dolls and other products of the earth appear, break and then disappear, mixing with the earth. Similarly, the bodies of all conditioned living entities are annihilated, but the living entities, like the earth itself, are unchanging and never annihilated [na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre].

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

The Soul Remains Through Bodily Change

1
Pots and dolls appear from earth and return to it when broken. Similarly, bodily forms appear and disappear, but the soul is not annihilated.
2
The body undergoes birth, growth, sustenance, by-products, dwindling and annihilation. The soul undergoes none of these changes.
3
Kṛṣṇa explains that the Supreme Lord sits in everyone’s heart and directs living entities seated in bodily machines. Neither Paramātmā nor the individual soul loses the original spiritual identity.

Key points from the purport

The body undergoes six changes — birth, growth, sustenance, by-products, dwindling and then annihilation — but the soul undergoes no such changes.
The soul desires, and thus the body is formed.
Therefore a Vedic aphorism says, asaṅgo hy ayaṁ puruṣaḥ: although the soul is conditioned within this material world, he has no connections with the changes of the 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· 1

The purport of SB 10.4.19 quotesBG 18.61

Kṛṣṇa therefore says in Bhagavad-gītā (18.61): “The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.”

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

Chapter 4: The Atrocities of King Kaṁsa

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

According to the prophecy, the eighth child of Devakī would kill Kaṁsa, and therefore when Kaṁsa saw that the eighth child was a female and heard that his so-called enemy had taken birth elsewhere, he was struck with wonder. He decided to release Devakī and Vasudeva, and he admitted before them the wrongness of his atrocities.

Read the whole chapter summary Back to this verse in chapter 10.4