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

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Canto 5 · The Creative Impetus · 26 chapters

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Choose a chapter to see all its verses.

How to study this verse, in six steps

1Chant the verse. Say the Sanskrit slowly and carefully.
2Read the word meanings. Go through each Sanskrit word and its meaning.
3Find the meaning yourself. Before the translation, piece the meaning together from the words.
4Read the translation. Ask: what is the Lord teaching here, and how does it apply to my life?
5Read the purport slowly. Read it two or three times. Don't rush.
6Write down what touched you. Note the main points in your own notebook.

Read the full guide: how to hear the Bhāgavatam ›

Canto 5 · Chapter 13: Further Talks Between King Rahūgaṇa and Jaḍa Bharata

5.13.13 5.13.15

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 5.13.14

Ūti· What drives us to act

Who is speaking and story frame

Speaking:Jaḍa Bharata, who had fully realized Brahmansince 5.13.1inside 3 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King ParīkṣitJaḍa Bharata → King Rahūgaṇa

तांस्तान् विपन्नान् स हि तत्र तत्र

विहाय जातं परिगृह्य सार्थ: ।

आवर्ततेऽद्यापि न कश्चिदत्र

वीराध्वन: पारमुपैति योगम् ॥ १४ ॥

tāṁs tān vipannān sa hi tatra tatra

vihāya jātaṁ parigṛhya sārthaḥ

āvartate ’dyāpi na kaścid atra

vīrādhvanaḥ pāram upaiti yogam

Translation

My dear King, on the forest path of material life, first a person is bereft of his father and mother, and after their death he becomes attached to his newly born children. In this way he wanders on the path of material progress and is eventually embarrassed. Nonetheless, no one knows how to get out of this, even up to the moment of death.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Human Life Is Meant for Devotional Service

1
Family attachment continues from generation to generation: parents die, children marry and new children are born. This repetition alone does not bring liberation from material difficulty.
2
Human life is meant for jñāna and vairāgya—knowledge and renunciation. These lead to bhakti-yoga, the platform of devotional service.
3
People avoid sādhu-saṅga, the association of liberated people, and continue their habitual family life. They remain troubled by the exchange of money and sex.

Key points from the purport

In this material world, family life is an institution of sex.
Through sex, the father and mother beget children, and the children get married and go down the same path of sexual life.
Thus generation after generation these things go on in the same way without anyone’s attaining liberation from the embarrassment of material life.

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 5.13.14 quotesSB 7.9.45

Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukham. Through sex, the father and mother beget children, and the children get married and go down the same path of sexual life.

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

Misjudgment → Humility and insight. Spiritual insight hides behind social appearances.

Chapters 10–14 of Canto 5: Jaḍa Bharata instructs Rahūgaṇa. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 13: Further Talks Between King Rahūgaṇa and Jaḍa Bharata

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

Expecting to become happy, the living entity changes his position from one place to another, but actually a materialistic person within the material world is never happy. Being constantly engaged in materialistic activities, he is always disturbed.

Read the whole chapter summary Back to this verse in chapter 5.13

Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

tān tānall of them
vipannānembarrassed in various ways
saḥthe living being
hicertainly
tatra tatrahere and there
vihāyagiving up
jātamthose who are newly born
parigṛhyataking

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
Vātsalya · Parental affection
Affection and protective concern for the Lord as a child. · Theme in SB 5.13
In this verse: “mother”, “father”, “children”
Moha · Material attachment
The pull of ego, desire and impermanent relationships. · Theme in SB 5.13
In this verse: “attached”, “material”, “attachment”
Abhaya · Fearlessness
Steadiness through faith amid danger and death. · Theme in SB 5.13
In this verse: “death”

Chapter themes come from the story phase this chapter belongs to.

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

Am I making room for spiritual knowledge and devotional service, or only repeating familiar routines?

Practice

Make time today to hear spiritual instruction in the association of devotees.

The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

Connected stories

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

The purport quotesSB 7.9.45

Found where this verse or Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport names them. See all of chapter 5.13's connections

Live this todayHuman Life Is Meant for Devotional ServiceThis 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 5.13.14? Get an answer from the verses themselves.

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