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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

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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 5 · Chapter 14: The Material World as the Great Forest of Enjoyment
5.14.165.14.18

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 5.14.17

Ūti· What drives us to act
Who is speaking and story frame
Speaking:King Parīkṣitsince 5.13.26inside 2 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King Parīkṣit

कदाचिन्मनोरथोपगतपितृपितामहाद्यसत्सदिति स्वप्ननिर्वृतिलक्षणमनुभवति ॥ १७ ॥

kadācin manorathopagata-pitṛ-pitāmahādy asat sad iti svapna-nirvṛti-lakṣaṇam anubhavati.

Translation

Sometimes the conditioned soul imagines that his father or grandfather has again come in the form of his son or grandson. In this way he feels the happiness one sometimes feels in a dream, and the conditioned soul sometimes takes pleasure in such mental concoctions.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
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Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Family Attachment Feeds Dreamlike Consolation

  1. 1

    Through fruitive activity, relatives come together like straws gathering in a moving stream. Their association is temporary, and they later separate.

  2. 2

    Strong material affection leads a person to imagine that a departed father or grandfather has returned as a child or grandchild. This gives pleasure resembling the happiness of a dream.

  3. 3

    The purport allows that such a return may sometimes happen, but emphasizes the pleasure taken in imagined conclusions. Ignorance of the Lord's real existence encourages these mental concoctions.

Key points from the purport
  • Due to ignorance of the real existence of the Lord, the conditioned soul imagines many things.
  • They gather together as family members, and the material affection is so strong that even after a father or grandfather passes away, one takes pleasure in thinking that they return to the family in different forms.
  • Sometimes this may happen, but in any case the conditioned soul likes to take pleasure in such concocted thoughts.

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

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

Further reading

Chapter 14: The Material World as the Great Forest of Enjoyment

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

In the forest of material life, everyone is envious like mosquitoes, and rats and mice are always creating disturbances. Everyone in this material world is placed in many awkward positions and surrounded by envious people and disturbing animals.
Read the whole chapter summaryBack to this verse in chapter 5.14
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Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. kadācitsometimes
  2. manoratha-upagataobtained by mental concoction
  3. pitṛthe father
  4. pitā-maha-ādior grandfather and others
  5. asatalthough long dead (and although no one knows that the soul has gone)
  6. satagain the father or grandfather has come
  7. itithus thinking
  8. svapna-nirvṛti-lakṣaṇamthe kind of happiness found in dreams
  9. anubhavatithe conditioned soul feels
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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 5.14

    In this verse: “father”, “child”

  • Moha · Material attachment

    The pull of ego, desire and impermanent relationships. · Theme in SB 5.14

    In this verse: “material”

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

Do I sometimes treat a comforting thought about family as certain knowledge?

Practice

Identify one comforting assumption about a family relationship and gently distinguish what you know from what you imagine.

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The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

Live this todayFamily Attachment Feeds Dreamlike ConsolationThis 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 5.14.17? Get an answer from the verses themselves.
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