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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 6: Puruṣa-sūkta Confirmed
2.6.202.6.22

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 2.6.21

Āśraya· The supreme shelter
Who is speaking and story frame
Speaking:Lord Brahmāsince 2.6.1inside 3 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King ParīkṣitLord Brahmā → Nārada Muni

सृती विचक्रमे विश्वङ्‍साशनानशने उभे ।

यदविद्या च विद्या च पुरुषस्तूभयाश्रय: ॥ २१ ॥

sṛtī vicakrame viśvaṅ

sāśanānaśane ubhe

yad avidyā ca vidyā ca

puruṣas tūbhayāśrayaḥ

Translation

By His energies, the all-pervading Personality of Godhead is thus comprehensively the master in the activities of controlling and in devotional service. He is the ultimate master of both nescience and factual knowledge of all situations.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Choose Service Rather Than Control

  1. 1

    The individual soul knows only a limited field of activities. The Supreme Personality of Godhead knows everyone’s thoughts, feelings and desires, past, present and future.

  2. 2

    The living entity may forget his identity, but the Lord never does. The soul is a part of the Lord and can never equal the whole in knowledge.

  3. 3

    Trying to lord over creation brings clash and frustration, the symptoms of ignorance. In the field of true knowledge, there is devotional service to the Lord.

Key points from the purport
  • So, because there is a stage of forgetfulness of the individual selves, or the living entities, there is always a gulf of difference between the Lord and the living entity, as between the part and the whole.
  • So the conception of one-hundred-percent equality of the living being with the Lord is also nescience.
  • The Lord is thus the proprietor of the fields both of nescience and of cognition, and it remains the choice of the living entity to exist in either of the above regions.

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 2.6.21 quotesBG 13.3

In the Bhagavad-gītā (13.3) the matter is explained as follows: Kṣetra means the place, and one who knows the place is called the kṣetrajña.

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 6: Puruṣa-sūkta Confirmed

Brahmā describes the universal form, his sacrifice, and the Lord’s control over creation, maintenance, and destruction.

Back to this verse in chapter 2.6
2

Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. sṛtīthe destination of the living entities
  2. vicakrameexists comprehensively
  3. viśvaṅthe all-pervading Personality of Godhead
  4. sāśanaactivities of lording it over
  5. anaśaneactivities in devotional service
  6. ubheboth
  7. yatwhat is
  8. avidyānescience
3

Key ideas in this verse

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

  • Āśraya · The summum bonum

    Who is the shelter of everything? · Subject 10 of 10

  • Bhakti · Devotion and loving service

    How devotion reorganizes desire and action. · Theme in SB 2.6

    In this verse: “devotional service”

  • Jñāna · Spiritual insight

    Inquiry, revelation and discrimination between self and matter. · Theme in SB 2.6

    In this verse: “knowledge”

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

4

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

Where am I seeking control when I could choose devotional service?

Practice

Before one activity today, pause and choose to approach it as service to the Lord rather than an opportunity to control.

5

The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

Live this todayChoose Service Rather Than ControlThis 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 2.6.21? Get an answer from the verses themselves.
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