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Study a Verse

Read one verse of Śrī Caitanya Caritamrta with its Bengali, transliteration, word meanings, translation and study points.

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Ādi-līlā · 17 chapters

How to study this verse, in six steps
  1. 1Say the verse. Read the transliteration aloud, slowly.
  2. 2Read the word meanings. Go through each word and its meaning.
  3. 3Read the translation. Ask: what is happening here, and who is it about?
  4. 4Read the purport slowly. Read it twice. Don't rush.
  5. 5See Lord Caitanya as Kṛṣṇa. Remember who is acting in the pastime.
  6. 6Take one thing into your day. Note one point and one practice.
Read the full guide: how to read Caitanya Caritamrta ›

Śrī Caitanya Caritamrta · Text Ādi 14.1

কথঞ্চন স্মৃতে যস্মিন্ দুষ্করং সুকরং ভবেৎ ।

বিস্মৃতে বিপরীতং স্যাৎ শ্রীচৈতন্যং নমামি তম্ ॥ ১ ॥

kathañcana smṛte yasmin

duṣkaraṁ sukaraṁ bhavet

vismṛte viparītaṁ syāt

śrī-caitanyaṁ namāmi tam

Translation

Things that are very difficult to do become easy to execute if one somehow or other simply remembers Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. But if one does not remember Him, even easy things become very difficult. To this Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu I offer my respectful obeisances.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Remembering Lord Caitanya Makes Difficult Things Easy

  1. 1

    Simply remembering Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu makes very difficult things easy to execute. Without remembering Him, even easy things become difficult.

  2. 2

    One who receives a little favor from the Lord does not care even for liberation. A devotee of Lord Caitanya also considers residence in the heavenly planets a will-o’-the-wisp.

  3. 3

    For one engaged in the Lord’s service, the senses are like snakes with broken fangs: they are no longer dangerous. These are the gifts of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Key points from the purport
  • In his book Caitanya-candrāmṛta, Śrīla Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says, “One who receives a little favor from the Lord becomes so exalted that he does not care even for liberation, which is sought after by many great scholars and philosophers.
  • Similarly, a devotee of Lord Caitanya considers residence in the heavenly planets a will-o’-the-wisp.
  • The yoga principles are meant to control the senses, but there is no scope for the senses of one engaged in the service of the Lord to be dangerous like snakes.

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

Parental tenderness and play. Nimāi’s childhood alternates affection, mischief, and revelations.

The mood of Ādi 14 as a whole, an editorial reading, not the text itself. See the emotional atlas

Further reading

Ādi 14: Lord Caitanya’s Childhood Pastimes

From Śrīla Prabhupāda's chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has given a summary of this chapter in his Amṛta-pravāha-bhāṣya: “In the fourteenth chapter there is a description of how Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu enjoyed His childhood pastimes — crawling, crying, eating dirt and giving intelligence to His mother, favoring a brāhmaṇa guest, riding on the shoulders of two thieves and misleading them to His own house, and, on the plea of being diseased, taking prasādam in the house of Hiraṇya and Jagadīśa on the Ekādaśī day.
Read the whole chapter summaryBack to this verse in Ādi 14
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Word for word

Learn the words of the verse.

  1. kathañcanasomehow or other
  2. smṛteby remembering
  3. yasminwhom
  4. duṣkaramdifficult things
  5. sukarameasy
  6. bhavetbecome
  7. vismṛteby forgetting Him
  8. viparītamjust the opposite
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Key ideas in this verse

The themes of love and mercy this verse speaks of.

  • Kṛpā & transformation · Mercy changes a life

    Transformative encounters with grace, from scholars and travelers to renunciants and householders. · In the Prema Atlas

    In this verse: “favor”

  • Sevā · Love translated into service

    Devotional service expressed through cleansing, caring, teaching, honoring others, and living as Kṛṣṇa’s servant. · In the Prema Atlas

    In this verse: “service”

Concept links are an editorial study map; only the verse is the text itself.

4

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

How might remembering Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu change the way you approach a difficulty?

Practice

Before beginning one difficult task today, pause to remember Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and offer Him respectful obeisances.

Live this todayRemembering Lord Caitanya Makes Difficult Things EasyThis 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 Caitanya CaritamrtaHave a question about CC Ādi 14.1? Get an answer from the verses themselves.