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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
4.11.204.11.22

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 4.11.21

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

आयुषोऽपचयं जन्तोस्तथैवोपचयं विभु: ।

उभाभ्यां रहित: स्वस्थो दु:स्थस्य विदधात्यसौ ॥ २१ ॥

āyuṣo ’pacayaṁ jantos

tathaivopacayaṁ vibhuḥ

ubhābhyāṁ rahitaḥ sva-stho

duḥsthasya vidadhāty asau

Translation

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, is all-powerful, and He awards the results of one’s fruitive activities. Thus, although one living entity’s duration of life is very small whereas that of another is very great, He is always in His transcendental position, and there is no question of lessening or increasing His duration of life.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Devotional Service Takes Us Beyond Karma

  1. 1

    The Supreme Personality of Godhead awards lifetimes according to karma, from the mosquito’s short life to Lord Brahmā’s long life. His own existence is never increased or diminished.

  2. 2

    Work should be performed to satisfy the Supreme Lord; otherwise it binds us through action and reaction. The Lord diminishes or vanquishes His devotees’ karmic reactions.

  3. 3

    Our best interest is to engage in devotional service and return to Godhead. In His abode there is neither birth nor death nor different forms of life under karma.

Key points from the purport
  • Both the mosquito and Lord Brahmā are living entities in the material world; both are minute sparks and are part of the Supreme Lord.
  • The very short duration of the life of the mosquito and the very long lifetime of Lord Brahmā are both awarded by the Supreme Personality of Godhead according to the results of their karma.
  • But persons who engage in devotional service reach the abode of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, where there is neither birth nor death nor different varieties of life under the influence of the law of karma.

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 4.11.21 quotesBG 9.25

Bhagavad-gītā (9.25) gives a warning to the living entities: yānti deva-vratā devān — those who are addicted to the worship of the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, and those who are addicted to worship of the Pitās, forefathers, go to the Pitās.

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

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
2

Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. āyuṣaḥof duration of life
  2. apacayamdiminution
  3. jantoḥof the living entities
  4. tathāsimilarly
  5. evaalso
  6. upacayamincrease
  7. vibhuḥthe Supreme Personality of Godhead
  8. ubhābhyāmfrom both of them
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

  • Bhakti · Devotion and loving service

    How devotion reorganizes desire and action. · Theme in SB 4.11

    In this verse: “devotional service”, “devotees’”

  • Abhaya · Fearlessness

    Steadiness through faith amid danger and death. · Theme in SB 4.11

    In this verse: “death”

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

Which activity could I do for the Lord’s satisfaction rather than merely for its material result?

Practice

Choose one task today and begin it with the intention of satisfying the Supreme Lord.

5

The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

Live this todayDevotional Service Takes Us Beyond KarmaThis 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.

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