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Study a Verse

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

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Canto 12 · The Age of Deterioration · 13 chapters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

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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 12 · Chapter 3: The Bhūmi-gītā

12.3.34 12.3.36

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 12.3.35

Ūti· What drives us to act

Who is speaking and story frame

Speaking:Śukadeva Gosvāmīsince 12.3.18inside 2 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King Parīkṣit

पणयिष्यन्ति वै क्षुद्रा: किराटा: कूटकारिण: ।

अनापद्यपि मंस्यन्ते वार्तां साधु जुगुप्सिताम् ॥ ३५ ॥

paṇayiṣyanti vai kṣudrāḥ

kirāṭāḥ kūṭa-kāriṇaḥ

anāpady api maṁsyante

vārtāṁ sādhu jugupsitām

Translation

Businessmen will engage in petty commerce and earn their money by cheating. Even when there is no emergency, people will consider any degraded occupation quite acceptable.

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.

Cheating Must Not Become Respectable

1
The verse predicts businessmen engaging in petty commerce and earning money by cheating.
2
People will accept degraded occupations even when there is no emergency. The purport emphasizes that they do so although other occupations are available.
3
Treating cheating and lying as respectable business practices is a symptom of the Age of Kali.

Key points from the purport

Although other occupations are available, people do not hesitate to work in coal mines, slaughterhouses, steel mills, deserts, floating oil rigs, submarines and other equally abominable situations.
As also mentioned here, businessmen will consider cheating and lying to be a perfectly respectable way to do business.
These are all symptoms of the Age of Kali.

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

Civilizational dread → Dispassion. Social and cosmic impermanence expose the limits of worldly plans.

Chapters 1–4 of Canto 12: The deterioration of Kali and universal dissolution. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 3: The Bhūmi-gītā

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

The mode of goodness is predominant during Satya-yuga, and the mode of passion is predominant during the Tretā-yuga. The mixed modes of passion and ignorance are predominant during Dvāpara-yuga, and in the Age of Kali the mode of ignorance is predominant.

Read the whole chapter summary Back to this verse in chapter 12.3