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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 14: The Material World as the Great Forest of Enjoyment

5.14.2 5.14.4

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 5.14.3

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

अथ च यत्र कौटुम्बिका दारापत्यादयो नाम्ना कर्मणा वृकसृगाला एवानिच्छतोऽपि कदर्यस्य कुटुम्बिन उरणकवत्संरक्ष्यमाणं मिषतोऽपि हरन्ति ॥ ३ ॥

atha ca yatra kauṭumbikā dārāpatyādayo nāmnā karmaṇā vṛka-sṛgālā evānicchato ’pi kadaryasya kuṭumbina uraṇakavat saṁrakṣyamāṇaṁ miṣato ’pi haranti.

Translation

My dear King, family members in this material world go under the names of wife and children, but actually they behave like tigers and jackals. A herdsman tries to protect his sheep to the best of his ability, but the tigers and foxes take them away by force. Similarly, although a miserly man wants to guard his money very carefully, his family members take away all his assets forcibly, even though he is very vigilant.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Attachment Can Consume Carefully Guarded Wealth

1
The verse compares a man guarding his wealth to a herdsman protecting sheep. Despite his vigilance, family members take away the assets he tries to preserve.
2
The purport describes household expenses and attachment to sexual pleasure as draining the husband’s hard-earned resources and vitality. Yet his attachment keeps him absorbed in maintaining that situation.
3
Children are also compared to animals that carry away the herdsman’s lambs. The warning is that carefully supervising money does not protect it from the demands of attached family life.

Key points from the purport

Similarly, the children are also like tigers, jackals and foxes.
As tigers, jackals and foxes take away lambs despite the herdsman’s vigilant protection, children take away the father’s money, although the father supervises the money himself.
Thus family members may be called wives and children, but actually they are plunderers.

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

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

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

The living entity allows himself to be attacked by jackals and foxes (wife and children), and thus his real spiritual life is finished. In the forest of material life, everyone is envious like mosquitoes, and rats and mice are always creating disturbances.

Read the whole chapter summary Back to this verse in chapter 5.14

Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

athain this way
caalso
yatrain which
kauṭumbikāḥthe family members
dāra-apatya-ādayaḥbeginning with the wife and children
nāmnāby name only
karmaṇāby their behavior
vṛka-sṛgālāḥtigers and jackals

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
Rakṣā · Divine protection
Protection of devotees through the Lord’s intervention. · Theme in SB 5.14
In this verse: “protect”, “guard”, “protecting”
Moha · Material attachment
The pull of ego, desire and impermanent relationships. · Theme in SB 5.14
In this verse: “material”, “attachment”, “household”
Rāja-dharma · Devotional leadership
Serving and protecting through responsibility. · Theme in SB 5.14
In this verse: “king”

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

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

Where do attachment and the wish to guard my money pull me in opposite directions?

Practice

Review one household expense today and notice whether attachment is driving it.

The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

Live this todayAttachment Can Consume Carefully Guarded WealthThis 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 5.14.3? Get an answer from the verses themselves.

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