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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 14.42

“কেনে চুরি কর, কেনে মারহ শিশুরে ।

কেনে পর–ঘরে যাহ, কিবা নাহি ঘরে ॥” ৪২ ॥

“kene curi kara, kene māraha śiśure

kene para-ghare yāha, kibā nāhi ghare”

Translation

Śacīmātā said, “Why do You steal others’ things? Why do You beat the other children? And why do You go inside others’ houses? What do You not have in Your own house?”

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
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Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

The Lord’s Play Is Rooted in Love

  1. 1

    Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa Himself. His stealing and fighting are not those of a thief or enemy, but of a friend in a loving condition.

  2. 2

    The Lord steals as a child not because He is in want, but out of a natural instinct. Śacīmātā asks what He lacks in His own house.

  3. 3

    Whatever we find in the material world already exists in the spiritual world. There these activities are free from miserable conditions and take place in friendship and love, whereas material stealing and fighting are based on enmity and envy.

Key points from the purport
  • In this material world also, small children, without enmity or bad will, sometimes go to a neighboring house and steal, and sometimes they fight.
  • Without the existence of the stealing propensity and fighting propensity in the spiritual world, they cannot exist here in this material world.
  • Therefore we should understand that in the spiritual world all these activities exist, but there is no inebriety, whereas in the material world all activities are full of miserable conditions.

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. kene curi karawhy do You steal
  2. kene māraha śiśurewhy do You beat other children
  3. kenewhy
  4. para-gharein others’ houses
  5. yāhaYou go
  6. kibāwhat
  7. nāhiis not there
  8. gharein Your own house
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Key ideas in this verse

The themes of love and mercy this verse speaks of.

  • Prema · Love of Godhead

    The culminating devotional purpose that unites the narration: bestowed, cultivated, taught, celebrated, and tasted. · In the Prema Atlas

    In this verse: “love”

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 does knowing that the Lord acts in friendship and love change your understanding of His childhood play?

Practice

Write one sentence distinguishing the Lord’s loving childhood play from actions based on envy.

Live this todayThe Lord’s Play Is Rooted in LoveThis 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.

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