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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 14.30

অন্তরে বিস্মিত শচী বলিল তাহারে ।

“মাটি খাইতে জ্ঞানযোগ কে শিখাল তোরে ॥ ৩০ ॥

antare vismita śacī balila tāhāre

“māṭi khāite jñāna-yoga ke śikhāla tore

Translation

Astonished that the child was speaking Māyāvāda philosophy, mother Śacī replied, “Who has taught You this philosophical speculation that justifies eating dirt?”

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Questioning Speculation That Justifies Eating Dirt

  1. 1

    Mother Śacī was astonished that the child was speaking Māyāvāda philosophy.

  2. 2

    She asked who had taught Him the philosophical speculation that justified eating dirt.

  3. 3

    Her reply challenged the claim that everything is one: why do people eat food grains produced from dirt rather than dirt itself?

Key points from the purport
  • In the philosophical discourse between the mother and the son, when the son said that everything is one, as impersonalists say, the mother replied, “If everything is one, why do people in general not eat dirt but eat the food grains produced from the dirt?”

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. antarewithin herself
  2. vismitasurprised
  3. śacīmother Śacī
  4. balilareplied
  5. tāhāreunto Him
  6. māṭidirt
  7. khāiteto eat
  8. jñāna-yogaphilosophical speculation
3

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

How does mother Śacī's simple question test the claim that everything is one?

Practice

Write a one-sentence answer to mother Śacī's question about eating grain rather than dirt.

Live this todayQuestioning Speculation That Justifies Eating DirtThis 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 14.30? Get an answer from the verses themselves.