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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 ›

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 2.6.39

Who is speaking and story frame

स एष आद्य: पुरुष: कल्पे कल्पे सृजत्यज: ।

आत्मात्मन्यात्मनात्मानं स संयच्छति पाति च ॥ ३९ ॥

sa eṣa ādyaḥ puruṣaḥ

kalpe kalpe sṛjaty ajaḥ

ātmātmany ātmanātmānaṁ

sa saṁyacchati pāti ca

Translation

That supreme original Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, expanding His plenary portion as Mahā-Viṣṇu, the first incarnation, creates this manifested cosmos, but He is unborn. The creation, however, takes place in Him, and the material substance and manifestations are all Himself. He maintains them for some time and absorbs them into Himself again.

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

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Kṛṣṇa Remains Supreme While Expanding Everything

  1. 1

    Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, unborn even while creating. He expands as Mahā-Viṣṇu, from whom the universes and material manifestations are generated.

  2. 2

    The creation rests in the Lord and is nondifferent from Him, yet Kṛṣṇa remains aloof from it as the original Personality of Godhead. His impersonal feature exists alongside His personal form; it does not replace that form.

  3. 3

    The Lord creates, maintains and again absorbs the material manifestations through His inconceivable personal energies. This truth is accepted on scriptural authority and practically realized through progress in devotional service, not mental speculation.

Key points from the purport
  • The impersonalist gives stress to the impersonal form or feature of the Lord and does not believe in the original personality of the Lord, but the Vaiṣṇavas accept the original form of the Lord, of whom the impersonal form is merely one of the features.
  • The impersonalists depend more or less on inductive logic, and therefore they always remain in darkness about the original Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
  • The original Personality of Godhead (ādyaḥ), Govinda, expands Himself as the Mahā-Viṣṇu incarnation and rests in the Causal Ocean, which He Himself creates.

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 2.6.39 quotesBG 9.4

This is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.4) as follows: The impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth is also a form of the Lord called avyakta-mūrti.

The purport of SB 2.6.39 quotesBG 9.7

He lies down and generates the universes by His breathing, and again, by entering into each universe as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, He creates Brahmā, Śiva and many other demigods for maintenance of the universe and again absorbs the whole thing into His person as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.7): “O son of Kuntī, when the kalpa, or the duration of the…

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
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Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. saḥHe
  2. eṣaḥthe very
  3. ādyaḥthe original Personality of Godhead
  4. puruṣaḥthe Mahā-Viṣṇu incarnation, a plenary portion of Govinda, Lord Kṛṣṇa
  5. kalpe kalpein each and every millennium
  6. sṛjaticreates
  7. ajaḥthe unborn
  8. ātmāself
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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

  • Moha · Material attachment

    The pull of ego, desire and impermanent relationships. · Theme in SB 2.6

    In this verse: “material”

  • Bhakti · Devotion and loving service

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

    In this verse: “devotional service”

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

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Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

How does knowing that Kṛṣṇa remains a person while sustaining everything shape my desire to serve Him?

Practice

Read the translation aloud once, then offer a brief prayer of worship to Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the original Personality of Godhead.

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The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

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Connected stories

Keep going: stories told elsewhere in the Bhāgavatam that this verse or its purport brings in.

Live this todayKṛṣṇa Remains Supreme While Expanding EverythingThis 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 2.6.39? Get an answer from the verses themselves.