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Read one verse of Śrī Caitanya Caritamrta with its Bengali, transliteration, word meanings, translation and study points.
Śrī Caitanya Caritamrta · Text Ādi 17.157
প্রবৃত্তি–মার্গে গোবধ করিতে বিধি হয় ।
শাস্ত্ৰ–আজ্ঞায় বধ কৈলে নাহি পাপ–ভয় ॥ ১৫৭ ॥
pravṛtti-mārge go-vadha karite vidhi haya
śāstra-ājñāya vadha kaile nāhi pāpa-bhaya
“On the path of material activities, there is regulation for killing cows. If such killing is done under the guidance of scripture, there is no sin.”
Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.ioThree study points drawn from the translation and purport.
The statement describes a regulated allowance on the path of material activities, making freedom from sin conditional on scriptural guidance.
Śāstra means ruling through scriptural injunctions, while śastra means ruling through weapons. The purport says that guidance through śāstra is better.
Vedic scriptures are not ordinary lawbooks based on human common sense. They are statements of liberated persons unaffected by imperfect senses.
Śrīla Prabhupāda's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.
Public courage and ecstatic joy. The saṅkīrtana movement confronts opposition and moves toward recognition and expansion.
The mood of Ādi 17 as a whole, an editorial reading, not the text itself. See the emotional atlas
From Śrīla Prabhupāda's chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:
Among all the gopīs, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī has the highest ecstatic love. When Kṛṣṇa in His form of Nārāyaṇa saw Rādhārāṇī, He could not keep His position as Nārāyaṇa and again assumed the form of Kṛṣṇa.Read the whole chapter summaryBack to this verse in Ādi 17
Learn the words of the verse.
Take one thing from this verse into your day.
How does guidance through scripture differ from control through force?
Write down the difference between śāstra and śastra in your own words.
Study points are short summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport on Vedabase.
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