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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 9: Brahmā’s Prayers for Creative Energy
3.8.333.9.2

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 3.9.1

Āśraya· The supreme shelter
Who is speaking and story frame
Speaking:Lord Brahmāsince 3.9.1inside 3 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King ParīkṣitMaitreya Ṛṣi → Vidura

ब्रह्मोवाच

ज्ञातोऽसि मेऽद्य सुचिरान्ननु देहभाजां

न ज्ञायते भगवतो गतिरित्यवद्यम् ।

नान्यत्त्वदस्ति भगवन्नपि तन्न शुद्धं

मायागुणव्यतिकराद्यदुरुर्विभासि ॥ १ ॥

brahmovāca

jñāto ’si me ’dya sucirān nanu deha-bhājāṁ

na jñāyate bhagavato gatir ity avadyam

nānyat tvad asti bhagavann api tan na śuddhaṁ

māyā-guṇa-vyatikarād yad urur vibhāsi

Translation

Lord Brahmā said: O my Lord, today, after many, many years of penance, I have come to know about You. Oh, how unfortunate the embodied living entities are that they are unable to know Your personality! My Lord, You are the only knowable object because there is nothing supreme beyond You. If there is anything supposedly superior to You, it is not the Absolute. You exist as the Supreme by exhibiting the creative energy of matter.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Knowing the Supreme Cause Through Mercy

  1. 1

    Viṣṇu is the only supreme cause of the cosmic manifestation. The Lord’s illusory energy distracts conditioned souls from knowing Him.

  2. 2

    The Personality of Godhead becomes known by His causeless mercy, bestowed upon pure devotees like Brahmā and those in his disciplic succession.

  3. 3

    Through penance, Brahmā came to appreciate the Lord’s incomparable beauty and opulence. Knowing that beauty frees one from attraction to other things.

Key points from the purport
  • The only supreme cause is Viṣṇu, and the intervening impediment is the illusory energy of the Lord.
  • The Lord has employed His wonderful material energy in manifesting many, many wonderful distractions in the material world, and the conditioned souls, illusioned by the same energy, are thus unable to know the supreme cause.
  • One can know the supreme cause, the Personality of Godhead, by the causeless mercy of the Lord, which is bestowed upon the Lord’s pure devotees like Brahmā and those in his disciplic succession.

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 3.9.1 quotesBG 2.59

This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (2.59): paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate.

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

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 9: Brahmā’s Prayers for Creative Energy

Brahmā prays for mercy and creative power, and the Lord instructs and blesses him.

Back to this verse in chapter 3.9
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Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. brahmā uvācaLord Brahmā said
  2. jñātaḥknown
  3. asiYou are
  4. meby me
  5. adyatoday
  6. sucirātafter a long time
  7. nanubut
  8. deha-bhājāmof one who has a material body
3

Key ideas in this verse

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

  • Āśraya · The summum bonum

    Who is the shelter of everything? · Subject 10 of 10

  • Kṛpā · Divine mercy

    Grace received beyond material calculations. · Theme in SB 3.9

    In this verse: “mercy”, “causeless”

  • Bhakti · Devotion and loving service

    How devotion reorganizes desire and action. · Theme in SB 3.9

    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 distractions keep me from seeking knowledge of the Lord’s beauty and opulence?

Practice

Set aside one distraction today and spend five minutes rereading Brahmā’s prayer to know the Lord.

5

The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

Live this todayKnowing the Supreme Cause Through MercyThis 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 3.9.1? Get an answer from the verses themselves.
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