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

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Canto 2 · The Cosmic Manifestation · 10 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 2 · Chapter 5: The Cause of All Causes
2.5.202.5.22

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 2.5.21

Sarga· Creation
Who is speaking and story frame
Speaking:Lord Brahmāsince 2.5.9inside 3 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King ParīkṣitLord Brahmā → Nārada Muni

कालं कर्म स्वभावं च मायेशो मायया स्वया ।

आत्मन् यद‍ृच्छया प्राप्तं विबुभूषुरुपाददे ॥ २१ ॥

kālaṁ karma svabhāvaṁ ca

māyeśo māyayā svayā

ātman yadṛcchayā prāptaṁ

vibubhūṣur upādade

Translation

The Lord, who is the controller of all energies, thus creates, by His own potency, eternal time, the fate of all living entities, and their particular nature, for which they were created, and He again merges them independently.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
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Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Creation Depends on the Personal Supreme Lord

  1. 1

    Material creation appears and disappears repeatedly under the Lord’s control, like a cloud in the unlimited spiritual sky. Conditioned souls act within it according to their desires, but remain subordinate to Him.

  2. 2

    The Lord’s energies sustain the whole creation, yet He remains separate and complete. His unlimited impersonal expansions do not remove His eternal personal existence.

  3. 3

    At annihilation, creation merges into transcendental Nārāyaṇa and later emerges with the same categories of fate and individual nature. Living entities share His spiritual quality but differ from Him because they can be attracted to material creation.

Key points from the purport
  • The creation of the material world, wherein the conditioned souls are allowed to act subordinately by the Supreme Lord, takes place again and again after being repeatedly annihilated.
  • The Lord therefore exists in His impersonal form by such expansion of energy, and the complete creation rests on His impersonal feature.
  • But because such living entities are apt to be attracted to the material creation, actively and subjectively, they are therefore different from the Lord.

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· 2

The purport of SB 2.5.21 quotesBG 8.19

As the rainy season appears and disappears regularly, the creation takes place and is again annihilated under the control of the Lord, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (8.19).

The purport of SB 2.5.21 quotesBG 9.5

The impersonal expansion is a manifestation of His energy, and He is always in His personal feature despite His innumerable unlimited expansions of impersonal energies.

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

Uncertainty → Awe. The scale of reality widens dramatically.

Chapters 4–7 of Canto 2: The creation, cosmic Person and incarnations. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Further reading

Chapter 5: The Cause of All Causes

Nārada questions Brahmā, who explains his dependence on the Supreme Lord and describes creation.

Back to this verse in chapter 2.5
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Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. kālameternal time
  2. karmathe fate of the living entity
  3. svabhāvamnature
  4. caalso
  5. māyāpotency
  6. īśaḥthe controller
  7. māyayāby the energy
  8. svayāof His own
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Key ideas in this verse

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

  • Sarga · The creation of the universe

    Where does the universe come from? · Subject 1 of 10

  • Moha · Material attachment

    The pull of ego, desire and impermanent relationships. · Theme in SB 2.5

    In this verse: “material”

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Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

What changes in my outlook when I remember that my freedom operates under the Lord’s control?

Practice

Before acting on one desire today, pause and acknowledge that you remain dependent on the Supreme Lord.

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The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

Live this todayCreation Depends on the Personal Supreme LordThis 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.

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