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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 ›

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 5.18.33

Who is speaking and story frame

यस्मिन्नसङ्ख्येयविशेषनाम-

रूपाकृतौ कविभि: कल्पितेयम् ।

सङ्ख्या यया तत्त्वद‍ृशापनीयते

तस्मै नम: साङ्ख्यनिदर्शनाय ते इति ॥ ३३ ॥

yasminn asaṅkhyeya-viśeṣa-nāma-

rūpākṛtau kavibhiḥ kalpiteyam

saṅkhyā yayā tattva-dṛśāpanīyate

tasmai namaḥ sāṅkhya-nidarśanāya te iti

Translation

O my Lord, Your name, form and bodily features are expanded in countless forms. No one can determine exactly how many forms exist, yet You Yourself, in Your incarnation as the learned scholar Kapiladeva, have analyzed the cosmic manifestation as containing twenty-four elements. Therefore if one is interested in Sāṅkhya philosophy, by which one can enumerate the different truths, he must hear it from You. Unfortunately, nondevotees simply count the different elements and remain ignorant of Your actual form. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.

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

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Know the Lord Behind Material Nature

  1. 1

    The Lord, as Kapiladeva, analyzed the cosmic manifestation into twenty-four elements. Those interested in Sāṅkhya philosophy must hear it from Him.

  2. 2

    Merely counting the elements leaves nondevotees ignorant of the Lord’s actual form. Speculative research is interrupted by death, while nature’s laws continue.

  3. 3

    Material nature works under Kṛṣṇa’s direction. The universe repeatedly becomes manifest, is dissolved and remains unmanifest before being created again.

Key points from the purport
  • Philosophers and scientists have been trying to study the entire cosmic situation and have been theorizing and calculating in different ways for millions and millions of years.
  • By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.”
  • Now the material creation is manifest, eventually it will be annihilated and remain for many millions of years in a dormant state, and finally it will again be created.

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 5.18.33 quotesBG 9.10

As Kṛṣṇa states in Bhagavad-gītā (9.10): “This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings.

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

Smallness → Awe and reverence. A vast cosmos changes the reader's perspective.

Chapters 15–25 of Canto 5: The cosmic regions and divine worship. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Further reading

Chapter 18: The Prayers Offered to the Lord by the Residents of Jambūdvīpa

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

In the hearts of nondevotees, however, there cannot be any good qualities, for such people are simply enchanted by the external, illusory energy of the Lord. Following in the footsteps of devotees, one should know that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the only worshipable Deity.
Read the whole chapter summaryBack to this verse in chapter 5.18
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Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. yasminin You (the Supreme Personality of Godhead)
  2. asaṅkhyeyainnumerable
  3. viśeṣaparticular
  4. nāmanames
  5. rūpaforms
  6. ākṛtaupossessing bodily features
  7. kavibhiḥby great learned persons
  8. kalpitāimagined
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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

  • Jñāna · Spiritual insight

    Inquiry, revelation and discrimination between self and matter. · Theme in SB 5.18

    In this verse: “philosophy”

  • Moha · Material attachment

    The pull of ego, desire and impermanent relationships. · Theme in SB 5.18

    In this verse: “material”

  • Abhaya · Fearlessness

    Steadiness through faith amid danger and death. · Theme in SB 5.18

    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

When I study the world, do I also remember the Supreme Personality of Godhead behind nature?

Practice

Observe one change in nature today and recall that material nature works under Kṛṣṇa’s direction.

5

Connected stories

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

Live this todayKnow the Lord Behind Material NatureThis 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 5.18.33? Get an answer from the verses themselves.