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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 6: Brahmā Satisfies Lord Śiva
4.6.424.6.44

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 4.6.43

Āśraya· The supreme shelter
Who is speaking and story frame
Speaking:Lord Brahmāsince 4.6.42inside 3 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King ParīkṣitMaitreya Ṛṣi → Vidura

त्वमेव भगवन्नेतच्छिवशक्त्यो: स्वरूपयो: ।

विश्वं सृजसि पास्यत्सि क्रीडन्नूर्णपटो यथा ॥ ४३ ॥

tvam eva bhagavann etac

chiva-śaktyoḥ svarūpayoḥ

viśvaṁ sṛjasi pāsy atsi

krīḍann ūrṇa-paṭo yathā

Translation

My dear lord, you create this cosmic manifestation, maintain it, and annihilate it by expansion of your personality, exactly as a spider creates, maintains and winds up its web.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

The Supreme Lord’s Energies Are Auspicious

  1. 1

    Brahmā compared the creation, maintenance and annihilation of the cosmos to a spider producing and withdrawing its web.

  2. 2

    Śiva means auspicious, and śakti means energy. Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara are incarnations of material qualities, and all are auspicious as expansions of the supreme auspicious.

  3. 3

    Even the mode of ignorance is auspicious in the higher sense. The purport compares this to a government’s criminal department, which has an important purpose alongside its educational department.

Key points from the purport
  • In the material world we compare these different incarnations from different angles of vision, but since all of them are expansions of the supreme auspicious, all of them are auspicious, although sometimes we consider one quality of nature to be higher or lower than another.
  • The example may be given herein that the government has both an educational department and criminal department.
  • An outsider may consider the criminal department inauspicious, but from the government’s point of view it is as important as the education department, and therefore the government finances both departments equally, without discrimination.

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

Humiliation and anger → Reconciliation. Relational offense leads to grief and destruction before restoration.

Chapters 1–7 of Canto 4: Dakṣa, Satī and Śiva. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Further reading

Chapter 6: Brahmā Satisfies Lord Śiva

Brahmā and the demigods approach Lord Śiva, asking him to show mercy.

Back to this verse in chapter 4.6
2

Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. tvamyou
  2. evacertainly
  3. bhagavanO my lord
  4. etatthis
  5. śiva-śaktyoḥbeing situated in your auspicious energy
  6. svarūpayoḥby your personal expansion
  7. viśvamthis universe
  8. sṛjasicreate
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

  • Moha · Material attachment

    The pull of ego, desire and impermanent relationships. · Theme in SB 4.6

    In this verse: “material”

  • Rāja-dharma · Devotional leadership

    Serving and protecting through responsibility. · Theme in SB 4.6

    In this verse: “government’s”

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

How does the government-department example challenge judgments based only on outward appearance?

Practice

Reread the government-department example and note how it explains the auspicious purpose of different energies.

5

The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

Live this todayThe Supreme Lord’s Energies Are AuspiciousThis 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 4.6.43? Get an answer from the verses themselves.
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