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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 6: Creation of the Universal Form
3.6.383.6.40

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 3.6.39

Īśānukathā· The Lord and His devotees
Who is speaking and story frame
Speaking:Maitreya Ṛṣisince 3.6.11inside 3 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King ParīkṣitMaitreya Ṛṣi → Vidura

अतो भगवतो माया मायिनामपि मोहिनी ।

यत्स्वयं चात्मवर्त्मात्मा न वेद किमुतापरे ॥ ३९ ॥

ato bhagavato māyā

māyinām api mohinī

yat svayaṁ cātma-vartmātmā

na veda kim utāpare

Translation

The wonderful potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is bewildering even to the jugglers. That potency is unknown even to the self-sufficient Lord, so it is certainly unknown to others.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Appreciate the Lord’s Inconceivable Potency

  1. 1

    The potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead bewilders even worldly jugglers and magicians. Nothing is impossible for the Supreme Omnipotent Person.

  2. 2

    Faithful devotees appreciate the Lord’s wonderful activities rather than try to calculate His unlimited potency. Such appreciation frees them from material bondage.

  3. 3

    A small banyan fruit contains thousands of seeds, each holding the potency of another tree. Trees and seeds thus engage devotees in meditation on the Lord’s activities.

Key points from the purport
  • The froggish philosophers and mundane wranglers in science and mathematical calculation may not believe in the inconceivable potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but they are sometimes puzzled by the wonderful jugglery of man and nature.
  • Such jugglers and magicians of the mundane world are actually puzzled by the jugglery of the Lord in His transcendental activities, but they try to adjust their bewilderment by saying that it is all mythology.
  • The most wonderful puzzle for the mundane wranglers is that while they remain calculating the length and breadth of the unlimited potency of the Supreme Person, His faithful devotees are set free from the bondage of material encagement simply by appreciating the wonderful jugglery of the Supreme in the practical field.

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

Mystery → Cosmic wonder. The origin of the world is revealed through inquiry and divine grace.

Chapters 5–12 of Canto 3: Creation and Brahmā's bewilderment. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Further reading

Chapter 6: Creation of the Universal Form

The Lord enters the material elements, manifesting the universal form with its senses, deities, and social orders.

Back to this verse in chapter 3.6
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Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. ataḥtherefore
  2. bhagavataḥgodly
  3. māyāpotencies
  4. māyināmof the jugglers
  5. apieven
  6. mohinīenchanting
  7. yatthat which
  8. svayampersonally
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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

  • Moha · Material attachment

    The pull of ego, desire and impermanent relationships. · Theme in SB 3.6

    In this verse: “material”

  • Bhakti · Devotion and loving service

    How devotion reorganizes desire and action. · Theme in SB 3.6

    In this verse: “devotees”

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

What can a tree or seed help me appreciate about the Lord’s wonderful potency?

Practice

Look at a tree or seed today and spend a moment appreciating the Lord’s potency expressed through it.

5

The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

Live this todayAppreciate the Lord’s Inconceivable PotencyThis 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 3.6.39? Get an answer from the verses themselves.
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