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Read one verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam with its Sanskrit, word meanings, translation and study points.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 3.26.4
स एष प्रकृतिं सूक्ष्मां दैवीं गुणमयीं विभु: ।
यदृच्छयैवोपगतामभ्यपद्यत लीलया ॥ ४ ॥
sa eṣa prakṛtiṁ sūkṣmāṁ
daivīṁ guṇa-mayīṁ vibhuḥ
yadṛcchayaivopagatām
abhyapadyata līlayā
As His pastime, that Supreme Personality of Godhead, the greatest of the great, accepted the subtle material energy, which is invested with three material modes of nature and which is related with Viṣṇu.
Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.ioThree study points drawn from the translation and purport.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead accepts material energy for His pastimes of creation, maintenance and dissolution. This energy belongs to Him and is invested with the three modes of material nature.
A cloud covers our vision of the sun, not the sun itself. Similarly, māyā covers the conditioned soul’s vision but cannot cover the Supreme Lord.
The Lord remains beyond His material energy. The conditioned soul, being covered, cannot understand that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is beyond that energy and is the cause of all causes.
Śrīla Prabhupāda's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.
Entanglement → Insight and liberation. Inquiry matures into instruction in devotion and spiritual nature.
Chapters 25–33 of Canto 3: Kapila instructs Devahūti. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc
Kapila explains material nature, consciousness, time, the elements, and the manifestation of the universal form.
Back to this verse in chapter 3.26Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.
The subject this verse serves and the themes it speaks of.
Sarga · The creation of the universe
Where does the universe come from? · Subject 1 of 10
Moha · Material attachment
The pull of ego, desire and impermanent relationships. · Theme in SB 3.26
In this verse: “material”, “māyā”
Jñāna · Spiritual insight
Inquiry, revelation and discrimination between self and matter. · Theme in SB 3.26
In this verse: “understand”
Chapter themes come from the story phase this chapter belongs to.
Take one thing from this verse into your day.
What does the cloud example teach me about the limits of my own vision of the Lord?
Write down the cloud-and-sun comparison today, noting that the covering affects the observer’s vision, not the Supreme Lord.
The story this chapter belongs to.
His recorded lectures on this verse, and the talks where he quotes it.
1 lecture given on it. Recordings and transcripts on prabhupada.io.
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 3.26.4? Get an answer from the verses themselves.