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Read one verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam with its Sanskrit, word meanings, translation and study points.

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Canto 4 · The Creation of the Fourth Order · 31 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 4 · Chapter 11: Svāyambhuva Manu Advises Dhruva Mahārāja to Stop Fighting
4.11.174.11.19

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 4.11.18

Āśraya· The supreme shelter
Who is speaking and story frame
Speaking:Manusince 4.11.16inside 3 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King ParīkṣitMaitreya Ṛṣi → Vidura

स खल्विदं भगवान् कालशक्त्या

गुणप्रवाहेण विभक्तवीर्य: ।

करोत्यकर्तैव निहन्त्यहन्ता

चेष्टा विभूम्न: खलु दुर्विभाव्या ॥ १८ ॥

sa khalv idaṁ bhagavān kāla-śaktyā

guṇa-pravāheṇa vibhakta-vīryaḥ

karoty akartaiva nihanty ahantā

ceṣṭā vibhūmnaḥ khalu durvibhāvyā

Translation

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, by His inconceivable supreme energy, time, causes the interaction of the three modes of material nature, and thus varieties of energy become manifest. It appears that He is acting, but He is not the actor. He is killing, but He is not the killer. Thus it is understood that only by His inconceivable power is everything happening.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Recognize the Lord’s Inconceivable Energies

  1. 1

    Through His energy of time, the Lord causes the material modes to interact. Although these forces come from Him, He remains aloof from their actions and reactions.

  2. 2

    The Lord is always merciful, but souls who forget their relationship with Kṛṣṇa try to lord it over material nature. They thereby become involved in material interactions and their resulting happiness and unhappiness.

  3. 3

    Like fire whose heat and light act at a distance, the Lord acts through His energies. His energies are simultaneously one with and different from Him, a relationship beyond our small power of comprehension.

Key points from the purport
  • Similarly, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is always merciful and full of transcendental qualities, but certain individual souls have forgotten their relationship with Kṛṣṇa and have endeavored to lord it over material nature.
  • In this material world, the Lord incarnates in three forms — as Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva — by which He takes charge of the three modes of material nature.
  • But the original source of Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva — Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu — is always apart from these actions and reactions of material nature.

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

Rejection → Transformed aspiration. A child's wounded pride is purified by divine encounter.

Chapters 8–12 of Canto 4: Dhruva seeks and encounters the Lord. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Further reading

Chapter 11: Svāyambhuva Manu Advises Dhruva Mahārāja to Stop Fighting

Svāyambhuva Manu urges Dhruva to stop killing innocent Yakṣas and turn his attention to the Supreme Lord.

Back to this verse in chapter 4.11
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Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. saḥthe
  2. khaluhowever
  3. idamthis (universe)
  4. bhagavānthe Personality of Godhead
  5. kālaof time
  6. śaktyāby the force
  7. guṇa-pravāheṇaby the interaction of the modes of nature
  8. vibhaktadivided
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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

  • Moha · Material attachment

    The pull of ego, desire and impermanent relationships. · Theme in SB 4.11

    In this verse: “material”

  • Kṛpā · Divine mercy

    Grace received beyond material calculations. · Theme in SB 4.11

    In this verse: “merciful”

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

Can I acknowledge the Lord’s inconceivable power without expecting my limited understanding to explain everything?

Practice

Spend a minute reflecting on fire, heat and light as an example of how the Lord’s energies act while He remains apart.

5

The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

Live this todayRecognize the Lord’s Inconceivable EnergiesThis 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 4.11.18? Get an answer from the verses themselves.
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