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

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Canto 9 · Liberation · 24 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 9 · Chapter 14: King Purūravā Enchanted by Urvaśī

9.14.22 9.14.24

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 9.14.23

Ūti· What drives us to act

Who is speaking and story frame

Speaking:Purūravāsince 9.14.23inside 2 frames: Sūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaŚukadeva Gosvāmī → King Parīkṣit

अहो रूपमहो भावो नरलोकविमोहनम् ।

को न सेवेत मनुजो देवीं त्वां स्वयमागताम् ॥ २३ ॥

aho rūpam aho bhāvo

nara-loka-vimohanam

ko na seveta manujo

devīṁ tvāṁ svayam āgatām

Translation

Purūravā replied: O beautiful one, your beauty is wonderful and your gestures are also wonderful. Indeed, you are attractive to all human society. Therefore, since you have come of your own accord from the heavenly planets, who on earth would not agree to serve a demigoddess such as you.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Beauty Accompanied by Good Conduct

1
Purūravā praised Urvaśī’s wonderful beauty and gestures and readily agreed to serve her.
2
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that heavenly standards of eating, behavior and speech differ from those on earth. The inhabitants eat first-class food in goodness, prepared in clarified butter, rather than meat and eggs.
3
The inhabitants of the heavenly planets are described as beautiful, well-behaved and long-living. Their conduct includes modesty rather than public nakedness.

Key points from the purport

It appears from the words of Urvaśī that the standard of living, eating, behavior and speech are all different on the heavenly planets from the standards on this planet earth.
The inhabitants of the heavenly planets, aside from being very beautiful, both in complexion and bodily features, are well-behaved and long-living, and they eat first-class food in goodness.
These are some of the distinctions between the inhabitants of the heavenly planets and the inhabitants of earth.

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

Longing and conflict → Detachment and justice. Dynastic episodes explore personal desire and force.

Chapters 13–17 of Canto 9: Nimi, Purūravā and Paraśurāma. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 14: King Purūravā Enchanted by Urvaśī

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

Urvaśī was captivated by Purūravā’s beauty, and therefore she lived with him for some time, but when she left his company he became almost like a madman. While traveling all over the world, he met Urvaśī again at Kurukṣetra, but she agreed to join with him for only one night in a year.

Read the whole chapter summary Back to this verse in chapter 9.14