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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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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 2.96

কৃষ্ণের স্বরূপ, আর শক্তিত্রয়–জ্ঞান ।

যাঁর হয়, তাঁর নাহি কৃষ্ণেতে অজ্ঞান ॥ ৯৬ ॥

kṛṣṇera svarūpa, āra śakti-traya-jñāna

yāṅra haya, tāṅra nāhi kṛṣṇete ajñāna

Translation

“One who knows the real feature of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His three different energies cannot remain ignorant about Him.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Know Kṛṣṇa Beyond Limited Speculation

  1. 1

    One who knows Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s real feature and His three different energies cannot remain ignorant about Him.

  2. 2

    Through His potencies, the Supreme eternally and simultaneously exists in four transcendental features: His personality, His impersonal effulgence, the living beings as particles of His potency, and the principal cause of all causes. The purport compares this to the sun’s four features.

  3. 3

    The Absolute Truth is beyond our limited speculative minds. An honest search for truth requires admitting that His powers, acts, and arrangements are inconceivable to our tiny brains.

Key points from the purport
  • Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī states in his Bhagavat-sandarbha (16) that by His potencies, which act in natural sequences beyond the scope of the speculative human mind, the Supreme Transcendence, the summum bonum, eternally and simultaneously exists in four transcendental features: His personality, His impersonal effulgence, particles of His potency (the living beings), and the principal cause of all causes.
  • The ambition to corroborate the existence of the transcendental Absolute Truth by limited conjectural endeavors cannot be fulfilled, because He is beyond the scope of our limited speculative minds.
  • Such material knowledge is far removed from the spiritual nature, and therefore the acts and arrangements of the Absolute Truth are, beyond all doubts, inconceivable.

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

Revelatory awe. The identity of Caitanya as Kṛṣṇa is established; wonder becomes theological confidence.

The mood of Ādi 2 as a whole, an editorial reading, not the text itself. See the emotional atlas

Further reading

Ādi 2: Śri Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

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

Lord Caitanya is directly the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, as the evidence of authoritative scriptures proves. This chapter stresses that a devotee who wishes to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness must have knowledge of Kṛṣṇa’s personal form, His three principal energies, His pastimes and the relationship of the living entities with Him.
Read the whole chapter summaryBack to this verse in Ādi 2
2

Word for word

Learn the words of the verse.

  1. kṛṣṇeraof Lord Kṛṣṇa
  2. sva-rūpathe real nature
  3. āraand
  4. śakti-trayaof the three energies
  5. jñānaknowledge
  6. yāṅrawhose
  7. hayathere is
  8. tāṅraof him
3

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

Can I honestly acknowledge the limits of my understanding while seeking to know Śrī Kṛṣṇa?

Practice

List the four transcendental features given in the purport, then write: “His powers exceed my limited speculation.”

Live this todayKnow Kṛṣṇa Beyond Limited SpeculationThis 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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