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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 7: Scheduled Incarnations with Specific Functions
2.7.232.7.25

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 2.7.24

Īśānukathā· The Lord and His devotees
Who is speaking and story frame
Speaking:Lord Brahmāsince 2.7.1inside 3 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King ParīkṣitLord Brahmā → Nārada Muni

यस्मा अदादुदधिरूढभयाङ्गवेपो

मार्गं सपद्यरिपुरं हरवद् दिधक्षो: ।

दूरे सुहृन्मथितरोषसुशोणद‍ृष्टय‍ा

तातप्यमानमकरोरगनक्रचक्र: ॥ २४ ॥

yasmā adād udadhir ūḍha-bhayāṅga-vepo

mārgaṁ sapady ari-puraṁ haravad didhakṣoḥ

dūre suhṛn-mathita-roṣa-suśoṇa-dṛṣṭyā

tātapyamāna-makaroraga-nakra-cakraḥ

Translation

The Personality of Godhead Rāmacandra, being aggrieved for His distant intimate friend [Sītā], glanced over the city of the enemy Rāvaṇa with red-hot eyes like those of Hara [who wanted to burn the kingdom of heaven]. The great ocean, trembling in fear, gave Him His way because its family members, the aquatics like the sharks, snakes and crocodiles, were being burnt by the heat of the angry red-hot eyes of the Lord.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

The Lord’s Feelings Are Transcendental

  1. 1

    The Lord is the chief eternal living being, and all other eternal beings depend on Him. As the original source of living beings, He has a complete range of sentiments.

  2. 2

    Rāmacandra’s angry glance heated the whole ocean and made it tremble in fear. His feelings are not limited like those of ordinary living beings.

  3. 3

    The Lord’s anger and mercy are both on the absolute plane. Spiritual perfection does not mean that the Supreme Person has no feelings.

Key points from the purport
  • The Personality of Godhead has every sentiment of a sentient being, like all other living beings, because He is the chief and original living entity, the supreme source of all other living beings.
  • When Rāmacandra was angry and showed His red-hot eyes, the whole ocean became heated with that energy, so much so that the aquatics within the great ocean felt the heat, and the personified ocean trembled in fear and offered the Lord an easy path for reaching the enemy’s city.
  • Because the Lord is absolute, the impersonalists imagine that in the Absolute the sentiment of anger, which resembles mundane sentiments, must be conspicuous by absence.

Śrīla Prabhupāda'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

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 7: Scheduled Incarnations with Specific Functions

Brahmā recounts the Lord’s incarnations and explains that unalloyed surrender enables one to understand Him.

Back to this verse in chapter 2.7
2

Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. yasmaiunto whom
  2. adātgave
  3. udadhiḥthe great Indian Ocean
  4. ūḍha-bhayaaffected by fear
  5. aṅga-vepaḥbodily trembling
  6. mārgamway
  7. sapadiquickly
  8. ari-puramthe city of the enemy
3

Key ideas in this verse

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

  • Īśānukathā · The science of God

    Who is the Lord, and how do His devotees live? · Subject 7 of 10

  • Abhaya · Fearlessness

    Steadiness through faith amid danger and death. · Theme in SB 2.7

    In this verse: “fear”

  • Sakhya · Sacred friendship

    The affection of companions and friends of the Lord. · Theme in SB 2.7

    In this verse: “friend”

  • Rāja-dharma · Devotional leadership

    Serving and protecting through responsibility. · Theme in SB 2.7

    In this verse: “kingdom”

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

How does this teaching help me understand the Lord as a person without judging His feelings by human limits?

Practice

Reread the description of Rāmacandra’s glance and spend a moment reflecting that His feelings are transcendental.

5

The story around it

The stories this chapter belongs to.

6

Connected stories

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

Found where this verse or Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport names them. See all of chapter 2.7's connections

Live this todayThe Lord’s Feelings Are TranscendentalThis 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 2.7.24? Get an answer from the verses themselves.
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