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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

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 8: A Description of the Character of Bharata Mahārāja

5.8.23 5.8.25

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 5.8.24

Ūti· What drives us to act

Who is speaking and story frame

Speaking:The great King Mahārāja Bharatasince 5.8.9inside 2 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King Parīkṣit

अपिस्विदसौ भगवानुडुपतिरेनं मृगपतिभयान्मृतमातरं मृगबालकं स्वाश्रमपरिभ्रष्टमनुकम्पया कृपणजनवत्सल: परिपाति ॥ २४ ॥

api svid asau bhagavān uḍu-patir enaṁ mṛga-pati-bhayān mṛta-mātaraṁ mṛga-bālakaṁ svāśrama-paribhraṣṭam anukampayā kṛpaṇa-jana-vatsalaḥ paripāti.

Translation

Mahārāja Bharata continued to speak like a madman. Seeing above his head the dark marks on the rising moon, which resembled a deer, he said: Can it be that the moon, who is so kind to an unhappy man, might also be kind upon my deer, knowing that it has strayed from home and has become motherless? This moon has given the deer shelter near itself just to protect it from the fearful attacks of a lion.

Read this verse on Vedabase.io

This verse has no purport; its meaning is explained by the verses around it.

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Attachment Shapes What We Imagine

1
Seeing deerlike marks on the rising moon, Mahārāja Bharata continued speaking like a madman.
2
He wondered whether the moon had taken pity on his motherless deer, which had strayed from home.
3
He imagined that the moon was sheltering the deer from a lion's attack.

How it feels

Compassion and attachment → Regret and vigilance. Affection becomes binding when it displaces devotion.

Chapters 7–9 of Canto 5: Bharata, the deer and the birth of Jaḍa Bharata. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 8: A Description of the Character of Bharata Mahārāja

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

While searching and lamenting the deer’s absence, Mahārāja Bharata fell down and died. Because his mind was fully absorbed thinking of the deer, he naturally took his next birth from the womb of a deer.

Read the whole chapter summary Back to this verse in chapter 5.8

Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

api svitcan it be
asauthat
bhagavānmost powerful
uḍu-patiḥthe moon
enamthis
mṛga-pati-bhayātbecause of fear of the lion
mṛta-mātaramwho lost its mother
mṛga-bālakamthe son of a deer

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
Śaraṇāgati · Wholehearted surrender
Relinquishing ownership while entrusting oneself to the Lord. · Theme in SB 5.8
In this verse: “shelter”, “sheltering”
Abhaya · Fearlessness
Steadiness through faith amid danger and death. · Theme in SB 5.8
In this verse: “fearful”
Vātsalya · Parental affection
Affection and protective concern for the Lord as a child. · Theme in SB 5.8
In this verse: “motherless”

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

When I worry about someone, can I distinguish what I know from what I imagine?

Practice

Write down one worry today and separate the known facts from your imagined explanation.

The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

Live this todayAttachment Shapes What We ImagineThis 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 5.8.24? Get an answer from the verses themselves.

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