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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 9: Answers by Citing the Lord’s Version
2.9.272.9.29

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 2.9.28

Āśraya· The supreme shelter
Who is speaking and story frame
Speaking:Lord Brahmāsince 2.9.25inside 3 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King ParīkṣitThe Supreme Lord → Lord Brahmā

क्रीडस्यमोघसङ्कल्प ऊर्णनाभिर्यथोर्णुते ।

तथा तद्विषयां धेहि मनीषां मयि माधव ॥ २८ ॥

krīḍasy amogha-saṅkalpa

ūrṇanābhir yathorṇute

tathā tad-viṣayāṁ dhehi

manīṣāṁ mayi mādhava

Translation

O master of all energies, please tell me philosophically all about them. You play like a spider that covers itself by its own energy, and Your determination is infallible.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

The Lord Is Master of All Energies

  1. 1

    All creative energies and their agents emanate from the Lord, the one supreme source of all diversity. Brahmā creates, Viṣṇu maintains and Lord Śiva destroys.

  2. 2

    A spider produces, maintains and withdraws its web by its own power. Similarly, the Supreme Being creates, maintains and destroys the cosmic manifestations by His supreme will.

  3. 3

    By the Lord’s grace, a devotee like Brahmā, or one in his disciplic succession, can understand the almighty Personality of Godhead and His eternal transcendental pastimes.

Key points from the purport
  • By the inconceivable energy of the Lord, every creative element has its own potencies, known as the potency of the element, potency of knowledge and potency of different actions and reactions.
  • By a combination of such potencies of the Lord there is the manifestation of creation, maintenance and annihilation in due course of time and by different agents like Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara.
  • By the grace of the Lord, a devotee like Brahmā, or one in his chain of disciplic succession, can understand the almighty Personality of Godhead eternally engaged in His transcendental pastimes in the region of different energies.

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

Inquiry → Conviction. Divine knowledge resolves fundamental cosmic uncertainty.

Chapters 8–10 of Canto 2: Parīkṣit questions; Brahmā receives revelation. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Further reading

Chapter 9: Answers by Citing the Lord’s Version

The Lord receives Brahmā, explains His eternal existence, and instructs him to remain fixed and free from pride.

Back to this verse in chapter 2.9
2

Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. krīḍasias You play
  2. amoghainfallible
  3. saṅkalpadetermination
  4. ūrṇanābhiḥthe spider
  5. yathāas much as
  6. ūrṇutecovers
  7. tathāso and so
  8. tat-viṣayāmin the subject of all those
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

  • Jñāna · Spiritual insight

    Inquiry, revelation and discrimination between self and matter. · Theme in SB 2.9

    In this verse: “philosophically”, “understand”

  • Bhakti · Devotion and loving service

    How devotion reorganizes desire and action. · Theme in SB 2.9

    In this verse: “devotee”

  • Kṛpā · Divine mercy

    Grace received beyond material calculations. · Theme in SB 2.9

    In this verse: “grace”

4

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

Do I seek the Lord’s grace as well as an intellectual understanding of His energies?

Practice

Offer a short prayer asking for the grace to understand the Lord as the supreme source of all energies.

5

The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

Live this todayThe Lord Is Master of All EnergiesThis 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 2.9.28? Get an answer from the verses themselves.
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