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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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Choose a chapter to see all its verses.

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 30: Description by Lord Kapila of Adverse Fruitive Activities
3.30.13.30.3

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 3.30.2

Nirodha· Winding up
Who is speaking and story frame
Speaking:The Personality of Godheadsince 3.30.1inside 4 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King ParīkṣitMaitreya Ṛṣi → ViduraLord Kapila → Devahūti

यं यमर्थमुपादत्ते दु:खेन सुखहेतवे ।

तं तं धुनोति भगवान्पुमाञ्छोचति यत्कृते ॥ २ ॥

yaṁ yam artham upādatte

duḥkhena sukha-hetave

taṁ taṁ dhunoti bhagavān

pumāñ chocati yat-kṛte

Translation

Whatever is produced by the materialist with great pain and labor for so-called happiness, the Supreme Personality, as the time factor, destroys, and for this reason the conditioned soul laments.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Time Destroys Material Achievements

  1. 1

    Time represents the Supreme Personality of Godhead and destroys material things. What people produce with great labor for happiness eventually becomes a cause of lamentation.

  2. 2

    Even powerful empires built with perseverance have been destroyed. Economic development cannot make its achievements permanent.

  3. 3

    The living entity is eternal and has an eternal engagement. Life in one body is only a flash in the eternal journey, not the whole of existence.

Key points from the purport
  • The main function of the time factor, which is a representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is to destroy everything.
  • From history we can see that there were many powerful empires on the surface of the globe that were constructed with great pain and great perseverance, but in due course of time they have all been destroyed.
  • Not knowing this fact, they take the small flash of life to be everything, and they waste time in improving economic conditions.

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 30: Description by Lord Kapila of Adverse Fruitive Activities

Kapila describes the anxiety, death, and punishment of a person absorbed in sinful material pursuits.

Back to this verse in chapter 3.30
2

Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. yam yamwhatever
  2. arthamobject
  3. upādatteone acquires
  4. duḥkhenawith difficulty
  5. sukha-hetavefor happiness
  6. tam tamthat
  7. dhunotidestroys
  8. bhagavānthe Supreme Personality of Godhead
3

Key ideas in this verse

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

  • Nirodha · Returning home, back to Godhead

    What happens when everything here comes to an end? · Subject 8 of 10

  • Moha · Material attachment

    The pull of ego, desire and impermanent relationships. · Theme in SB 3.30

    In this verse: “materialist”, “material”

  • Viraha · Longing in separation

    Love and remembrance experienced in apparent absence. · Theme in SB 3.30

    In this verse: “laments”, “lamentation”

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 treating temporary achievements as though they were the whole purpose of life?

Practice

Pause over one material goal today and remind yourself that both this body and its achievements are temporary.

5

The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

Live this todayTime Destroys Material AchievementsThis 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 3.30.2? Get an answer from the verses themselves.
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