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

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Canto 7 · The Science of God · 15 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 7 · Chapter 9: Prahlāda Pacifies Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva with Prayers

7.9.42 7.9.44

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 7.9.43

Īśānukathā· The Lord and His devotees

Who is speaking and story frame

Speaking:Prahlāda Mahārājasince 7.9.9inside 3 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King ParīkṣitNārada Muni → Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira

नैवोद्विजे पर दुरत्ययवैतरण्या-

स्त्वद्वीर्यगायनमहामृतमग्नचित्त: ।

शोचे ततो विमुखचेतस इन्द्रियार्थ

मायासुखाय भरमुद्वहतो विमूढान् ॥ ४३ ॥

naivodvije para duratyaya-vaitaraṇyās

tvad-vīrya-gāyana-mahāmṛta-magna-cittaḥ

śoce tato vimukha-cetasa indriyārtha-

māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān

Translation

O best of the great personalities, I am not at all afraid of material existence, for wherever I stay I am fully absorbed in thoughts of Your glories and activities. My concern is only for the fools and rascals who are making elaborate plans for material happiness and maintaining their families, societies and countries. I am simply concerned with love for them.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Devotional Happiness and Compassion for Others

1
The material world is temporary and miserable. Elaborate plans for material happiness cannot overcome the laws of material nature without the Supreme Lord’s mercy.
2
Prahlāda Mahārāja was not afraid of material existence because he was absorbed in the Lord’s glories and activities. Although living in the material world, he was full of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
3
Prahlāda Mahārāja felt spiritual happiness while also feeling deep concern for those struggling without Kṛṣṇa consciousness. His concern for them came from love.

Key points from the purport

Throughout the entire world, everyone is making big, big plans to adjust the miseries of the material world, and this is true at present, in the past and in the future.
Nonetheless, although all materialists are baffled in their plans, they try again and again to become happy in this material world.
He felt happiness and transcendental bliss because of his being Kṛṣṇa conscious, yet he felt great unhappiness for the fools and rascals who make elaborate plans to be happy in this material world.

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· 5

The purport of SB 7.9.43 quotesBG 3.27

“The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by nature.”

The purport of SB 7.9.43 quotesBG 7.14

As the Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (7.14), daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā: “This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome.”

Quoted in the purport ofSB 5.2.7

I am simply lamenting for them and devising various plans to deliver them from the clutches of māyā.”

Quoted in the purport ofSB 9.4.28

tvad-vīrya-gāyana-mahāmṛta-magna-cittaḥ. A devotee is always merged in the ocean of the transcendental bliss of rendering service to the Lord.

Quoted in the purport ofSB 9.4.66

māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān. People suffer from material distress because they are not attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

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

Terror and divine fury → Protection and compassion. The crisis resolves through relationship rather than domination.

Chapters 8–10 of Canto 7: Nṛsiṁhadeva appears; Prahlāda pacifies Him. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 9: Prahlāda Pacifies Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva with Prayers

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

Thus the Lord appears in every millennium in the societies of demigods, human beings, animals, saints and aquatics. All such incarnations are meant to protect the devotees and kill the demons, but this killing and protecting does not reflect any sense of partiality on the part of the Supreme Lord.

Read the whole chapter summary Back to this verse in chapter 7.9

Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

nanot
evacertainly
udvijeI am disturbed or afraid
paraO Supreme
duratyayainsurmountable or very difficult to cross
vaitaraṇyāḥof the Vaitaraṇī, the river of the material world
tvat-vīryaof Your Lordship’s glories and activities
gāyanafrom chanting or distributing

Key ideas in this verse

The subject this verse serves and the themes it speaks of.

Īśānukathā · The science of God
Who is the Lord, and how do His devotees live? · Subject 7 of 10
Abhaya · Fearlessness
Steadiness through faith amid danger and death. · Theme in SB 7.9
In this verse: “afraid”
Moha · Material attachment
The pull of ego, desire and impermanent relationships. · Theme in SB 7.9
In this verse: “material”
Prema · Transcendental love
The intimacy and sweetness of devotion to Kṛṣṇa. · Theme in SB 7.9
In this verse: “love”

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

How can remembering the Lord help me respond to others’ struggles with love?

Practice

Spend two minutes remembering the Lord’s glories, then offer a prayer for someone struggling for material happiness.

The story around it

The story this chapter belongs to.

Śrīla Prabhupāda speaks

His recorded lectures on this verse, and the talks where he quotes it.

2 lectures given on it · quoted in 49 more lectures. Recordings and transcripts on prabhupada.io.

Quoted in 49 other lectures

In each of these he quotes this verse while speaking on another verse or subject. "Find the quote" opens the transcript at that spot.

Live this todayDevotional Happiness and Compassion for OthersOne of the 108 chosen lessons: a practice and a question from this verse

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 7.9.43? Get an answer from the verses themselves.

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