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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 ›
Canto 3 · Chapter 27: Understanding Material Nature
3.27.213.27.23

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 3.27.22

Mukti· Liberation
Who is speaking and story frame
Speaking:The Supreme Personality of Godheadsince 3.27.21inside 4 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King ParīkṣitMaitreya Ṛṣi → ViduraLord Kapila → Devahūti

ज्ञानेन द‍ृष्टतत्त्वेन वैराग्येण बलीयसा ।

तपोयुक्तेन योगेन तीव्रेणात्मसमाधिना ॥ २२ ॥

jñānena dṛṣṭa-tattvena

vairāgyeṇa balīyasā

tapo-yuktena yogena

tīvreṇātma-samādhinā

Translation

This devotional service has to be performed strongly in perfect knowledge and with transcendental vision. One must be strongly renounced and must engage in austerity and perform mystic yoga in order to be firmly fixed in self-absorption.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Devotion Needs Knowledge and Steady Detachment

  1. 1

    Devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness should not rest on blind material emotion or mental invention. It must be performed with knowledge and vision of the Absolute Truth.

  2. 2

    Advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is shown by proportionate detachment from material enjoyment. This renunciation should be strong, not temporary or artificial.

  3. 3

    Austerity and control of the senses and mind help one become fixed in devotional service. Through knowledge, one understands one’s constitutional relationship with the Superself and develops unshakable faith.

Key points from the purport
  • Devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness cannot be performed blindly due to material emotion or mental concoction.
  • One has to perform devotional service in full tapasya, austerity.
  • In this way one becomes fixed in devotional service, and his faith cannot be shaken by any material allurement.

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

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

Further reading

Chapter 27: Understanding Material Nature

Kapila explains how hearing, chanting, knowledge, and devotional service free the soul from material nature.

Back to this verse in chapter 3.27
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Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. jñānenain knowledge
  2. dṛṣṭa-tattvenawith vision of the Absolute Truth
  3. vairāgyeṇawith renunciation
  4. balīyasāvery strong
  5. tapaḥ-yuktenaby engagement in austerity
  6. yogenaby mystic yoga
  7. tīvreṇafirmly fixed
  8. ātma-samādhināby self-absorption
3

Key ideas in this verse

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

  • Mukti · Liberation

    What is real freedom for the soul? · Subject 9 of 10

  • Jñāna · Spiritual insight

    Inquiry, revelation and discrimination between self and matter. · Theme in SB 3.27

    In this verse: “knowledge”, “absolute truth”, “understands”

  • Vairāgya · Freedom from attachment

    Release from possessiveness and false identities. · Theme in SB 3.27

    In this verse: “renounced”, “detachment”

  • Bhakti · Devotion and loving service

    How devotion reorganizes desire and action. · Theme in SB 3.27

    In this verse: “devotional service”

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

Is my devotional understanding helping me become less attracted to material enjoyment?

Practice

Set aside one optional sense enjoyment today and use that time to study this teaching attentively.

5

The story around it

The story 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 3.27's connections

Live this todayDevotion Needs Knowledge and Steady DetachmentThis 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 3.27.22? Get an answer from the verses themselves.
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