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Read one verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam with its Sanskrit, word meanings, translation and study points.

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Canto 3 · The Status Quo · 33 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 3.13.35

Who is speaking and story frame

रूपं तवैतन्ननु दुष्कृतात्मनां

दुर्दर्शनं देव यदध्वरात्मकम् ।

छन्दांसि यस्य त्वचि बर्हिरोम-

स्वाज्यं द‍ृशि त्वङ्‌घ्रि षु चातुर्होत्रम् ॥ ३५ ॥

rūpaṁ tavaitan nanu duṣkṛtātmanāṁ

durdarśanaṁ deva yad adhvarātmakam

chandāṁsi yasya tvaci barhi-romasv

ājyaṁ dṛśi tv aṅghriṣu cātur-hotram

Translation

O Lord, Your form is worshipable by performances of sacrifice, but souls who are simply miscreants are unable to see it. All the Vedic hymns, Gāyatrī and others, are in the touch of Your skin. In Your bodily hairs is the kuśa grass, in Your eyes is the clarified butter, and in Your four legs are the four kinds of fruitive activities.

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

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Lord Boar Personifies the Vedic Hymns

  1. 1

    The purport warns against claiming strict allegiance to the Vedas while rejecting the Lord’s incarnations. Such disbelief prevents one from seeing His worshipable form.

  2. 2

    The Lord’s eternal forms are not imagined human qualities imposed upon God. His incarnations are personified forms of the Vedas.

  3. 3

    The verse identifies Vedic hymns with His skin, kuśa grass with His bodily hairs, and clarified butter with His eyes. Lord Boar personifies the Vedic hymns, especially the Gāyatrī mantra.

Key points from the purport
  • These strict followers of the Vedas who despise the eternal forms of the Lord may know from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that such incarnations are personified forms of the Vedas.
  • Lord Boar’s skin, His eyes and His bodily hair holes are all described here as different parts of the Vedas.
  • He is therefore the personified form of the Vedic hymns, and specifically the Gāyatrī mantra.

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 3.13.35 quotesBG 7.15

In the estimation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam these men are miscreants, and in Bhagavad-gītā (7.15) they are called not only miscreants but also fools and the lowest of mankind, and it is said that their knowledge has been plundered by illusion due to their atheistic temperament.

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

Threat and anger → Rescue and wonder. Divine protection appears amid cosmic confrontation.

Chapters 13–19 of Canto 3: Varāha, Jaya and Vijaya, Hiraṇyākṣa. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Further reading

Chapter 13: The Appearance of Lord Varāha

Lord Varāha appears from Brahmā’s nose, lifts the submerged earth, and receives the sages’ prayers.

Back to this verse in chapter 3.13
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Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. rūpamform
  2. tavaYour
  3. etatthis
  4. nanubut
  5. duṣkṛta-ātmanāmof souls who are simply miscreants
  6. durdarśanamvery difficult to see
  7. devaO Lord
  8. yatthat
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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

  • Bhakti · Devotion and loving service

    How devotion reorganizes desire and action. · Theme in SB 3.13

    In this verse: “worshipable”

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

Am I approaching the Lord’s form with respect, or dismissing what I do not yet understand?

Practice

Reread one description of Lord Boar’s body and reflect on it as part of His worshipable form.

5

The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

Live this todayLord Boar Personifies the Vedic HymnsThis 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 3.13.35? Get an answer from the verses themselves.