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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

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 2 · Chapter 7: Scheduled Incarnations with Specific Functions

2.7.52 2.8.1

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 2.7.53

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

मायां वर्णयतोऽमुष्य ईश्वरस्यानुमोदत: ।

श‍ृण्वत: श्रद्धया नित्यं माययात्मा न मुह्यति ॥ ५३ ॥

māyāṁ varṇayato ’muṣya

īśvarasyānumodataḥ

śṛṇvataḥ śraddhayā nityaṁ

māyayātmā na muhyati

Translation

The Lord’s activities in association with His different energies should be described, appreciated and heard in accordance with the teachings of the Supreme Lord. If this is done regularly with devotion and respect, one is sure to get out of the illusory energy of the Lord.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Hear Regularly, Respectfully and in Order

1
The Lord’s activities should be described, appreciated and heard according to His teachings. Regular hearing with devotion and respect frees one from His illusory energy.
2
The Lord’s activities involving His external and internal energies are equally good. Those still conditioned by material life should hear about His creation, maintenance and destruction of the worlds rather than imitate liberated souls or prematurely approach rāsa-līlā.
3
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam should be read or heard from the beginning, with its first nine cantos preparing one for the Tenth Canto. Such orderly study gradually raises the hearer to transcendental knowledge beyond illusion based on sense enjoyment.

Key points from the purport

On the other hand, those who are not completely free from the clutches of the Lord’s external energy should devoutly hear regularly about the activities of the Lord in relation with the external energy.
The cheap reciters of the Bhāgavatam are very much enthusiastic about the activities of the Lord’s internal potency, and the pseudodevotees, absorbed in material sense enjoyment, falsely jump to the stage of liberated souls and thus fall down deeply into the clutches of external energy.
The conditioned souls, therefore, must hear with appreciation and devotion the Lord’s pastimes in relationship with the external energy, and such acts are as good as the hearing of rāsa-līlā in the liberated stage.

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

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

Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

māyāmaffairs of the external energy
varṇayataḥwhile describing
amuṣyaof the Lord
īśvarasyaof the Personality of Godhead
anumodataḥthus appreciating
śṛṇvataḥthus hearing
śraddhayāwith devotion
nityamregularly

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
Kīrtana · Hearing and chanting
Remembering the Lord through sacred sound. · Theme in SB 2.7
In this verse: “heard”, “hearing”
Bhakti · Devotion and loving service
How devotion reorganizes desire and action. · Theme in SB 2.7
In this verse: “devotion”
Moha · Material attachment
The pull of ego, desire and impermanent relationships. · Theme in SB 2.7
In this verse: “illusion”, “material”

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

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

Am I willing to build understanding patiently rather than jump to topics for which I am not prepared?

Practice

Set a regular five-minute reading time and continue Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in order, appreciating the Lord’s activities described there.

The story around it

The stories this chapter belongs to.

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 todayHear Regularly, Respectfully and in OrderThis 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 2.7.53? Get an answer from the verses themselves.

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