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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 ›

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Texts 4.29.18-20

Who is speaking and story frame

देहो रथस्त्विन्द्रियाश्व: संवत्सररयोऽगति: ।

द्विकर्मचक्रस्त्रिगुणध्वज: पञ्चासुबन्धुर: ॥ १८ ॥

मनोरश्मिर्बुद्धिसूतो हृन्नीडो द्वन्द्वकूबर: ।

पञ्चेन्द्रियार्थप्रक्षेप: सप्तधातुवरूथक: ॥ १९ ॥

आकूतिर्विक्रमो बाह्यो मृगतृष्णां प्रधावति ।

एकादशेन्द्रियचमू: पञ्चसूनाविनोदकृत् ॥ २० ॥

deho rathas tv indriyāśvaḥ

saṁvatsara-rayo ’gatiḥ

dvi-karma-cakras tri-guṇa-

dhvajaḥ pañcāsu-bandhuraḥ

mano-raśmir buddhi-sūto

hṛn-nīḍo dvandva-kūbaraḥ

pañcendriyārtha-prakṣepaḥ

sapta-dhātu-varūthakaḥ

ākūtir vikramo bāhyo

mṛga-tṛṣṇāṁ pradhāvati

ekādaśendriya-camūḥ

pañca-sūnā-vinoda-kṛt

Translation

Nārada Muni continued: What I referred to as the chariot was in actuality the body. The senses are the horses that pull that chariot. As time passes, year after year, these horses run without obstruction, but in fact they make no progress. Pious and impious activities are the two wheels of the chariot. The three modes of material nature are the chariot’s flags. The five types of life air constitute the living entity’s bondage, and the mind is considered to be the rope. Intelligence is the chariot driver. The heart is the sitting place in the chariot, and the dualities of life, such as pleasure and pain, are the knotting place. The seven elements are the coverings of the chariot, and the working senses are the five external processes. The eleven senses are the soldiers. Being engrossed in sense enjoyment, the living entity, seated on the chariot, hankers after fulfillment of his false desires and runs after sense enjoyment life after life.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Real Progress Ends Repeated Material Birth

  1. 1

    The body is a chariot, the senses are its horses, the mind is the rope, and intelligence is the driver. Its two wheels are pious and impious activities.

  2. 2

    Moving into different bodies or rising to higher material planets is not real progress. Real progress means leaving material existence without having to accept another material body.

  3. 3

    The thirst for sense enjoyment keeps one pursuing happiness that remains out of reach. By giving up fruitive activity and mental speculation and becoming fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one can become free from birth and death.

Key points from the purport
  • The entanglement of the living entity in sense enjoyment is very nicely explained in these verses.
  • The living entity attains a certain position in life in a particular type of body according to his pious and impious activities, but his transmigration into different bodies should not be taken as progress.
  • The sitting place is the heart, and the living entity sits there and engages in the struggle for existence, which goes on without progress perpetually.

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· 3

The purport of SB 4.29.18-20 quotesBG 4.9

Real progress is explained in Bhagavad-gītā (4.9).

The purport of SB 4.29.18-20 quotesCC Madhya 19.138

As stated in Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 19.138): The living entity is wandering throughout the entire universe and taking birth in different species on different planets.

The purport of SB 4.29.18-20 quotesBG 8.16

As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (8.16): “From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place.

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

Worldly absorption → Sobering awareness. The mind's identification with material life becomes visible.

Chapters 24–29 of Canto 4: Śiva's song and the allegory of Purañjana. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Further reading

Chapter 29: Talks Between Nārada and King Prācīnabarhi

Nārada explains the allegory and devotional service; Prācīnabarhi leaves home to perform austerities.

Back to this verse in chapter 4.29
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Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. dehaḥbody
  2. rathaḥchariot
  3. tubut
  4. indriyathe knowledge-acquiring senses
  5. aśvaḥthe horses
  6. saṁvatsaratotal years
  7. rayaḥduration of life
  8. agatiḥwithout advancing
3

Key ideas in this verse

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

  • Ūti · The creative impetus

    Why do we act, and what keeps us bound? · Subject 5 of 10

  • Moha · Material attachment

    The pull of ego, desire and impermanent relationships. · Theme in SB 4.29

    In this verse: “material”

  • Vairāgya · Freedom from attachment

    Release from possessiveness and false identities. · Theme in SB 4.29

    In this verse: “free from”

  • Abhaya · Fearlessness

    Steadiness through faith amid danger and death. · Theme in SB 4.29

    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

Am I measuring progress by changing material circumstances or by freedom from material entanglement?

Practice

Identify one plan based on “I will be happy when,” and spend a few minutes instead studying this purport’s teaching on Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

5

The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

6

Connected stories

Keep going: stories told elsewhere in the Bhāgavatam that this verse or its purport brings in.

Live this todayReal Progress Ends Repeated Material BirthThis 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 4.29.18-20? Get an answer from the verses themselves.