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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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Madhya-līlā · 25 chapters

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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 ›
Madhya-līlā · Chapter 11: The Beḍā-kīrtana Pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu
Madhya 11.7Madhya 11.9

Śrī Caitanya Caritamrta · Text Madhya 11.8

নিষ্কিঞ্চনস্য ভগবদ্ভজনোন্মুখস্য

পারং পরং জিগমিষোর্ভবসাগরস্য ।

সন্দর্শনং বিষয়িণামথ যোষিতাঞ্চ

হা হন্ত হন্ত বিষভক্ষণতোঽপ্যসাধু ॥ ৮ ॥

niṣkiñcanasya bhagavad-bhajanonmukhasya

pāraṁ paraṁ jigamiṣor bhava-sāgarasya

sandarśanaṁ viṣayiṇām atha yoṣitāṁ ca

hā hanta hanta viṣa-bhakṣaṇato ’py asādhu

Translation

Greatly lamenting, the Lord then informed Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, “ ‘Alas, for a person who is seriously desiring to cross the material ocean and engage in the transcendental loving service of the Lord without material motives, seeing a materialist engaged in sense gratification or seeing a woman who is similarly interested is more abominable than drinking poison willingly.’”

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

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Cross the Material Ocean Through Spiritual Life

  1. 1

    Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu states principles for a sannyāsī renouncing the material world for spiritual advancement. For one seeking loving service without material motives, seeing people absorbed in sense gratification is compared to willingly drinking poison.

  2. 2

    Spiritual advancement is not meant for magic shows and jugglery, but for crossing the material world and entering the spiritual world.

  3. 3

    The Vaitaraṇī River is compared to the great ocean of repeated birth and death. Spiritual life aims at ending this repetition and entering the spiritual world, where one can live eternally cognizant and blissful.

Key points from the purport
  • Thus Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu enunciates the principles for a sannyāsī renouncing the material world for spiritual advancement.
  • Pāraṁ paraṁ jigamiṣoḥ means desiring to go to the other side of the material world.
  • There is a river called Vaitaraṇī, and on one side of this river is the material world, and on the other side is the spiritual world.

Śrīla Prabhupāda's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.

Connected verses· 4

Quoted in the purport ofSB 4.22.25

hā hanta hanta viṣa-bhakṣaṇato ’py asādhu. The word brahmaṇi used in this verse is commented upon by the impersonalists or professional reciters of Bhāgavatam, who are mainly advocates of the caste system by demoniac birthright.

Quoted in the purport ofSB 5.2.6

“Alas, for a person who is seriously desiring to cross the material ocean and engage in the transcendental loving service of the Lord without material motives, seeing a materialist engaged in sense gratification or seeing a woman who is similarly interested is more abominable than drinking poison willingly.”

Quoted in the purport ofSB 5.5.25

In Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 11.8), Caitanya Mahāprabhu explains the position of pure Vaiṣṇavas who are anxious to return home, back to Godhead.

Quoted in the purport ofSB 10.3.39

pāraṁ paraṁ jigamiṣor bhava-sāgarasya. If one wants to go back home, back to Godhead, one must be niṣkiñcana, free from all material desires.

Each link is a verse the purport itself quotes, or a purport elsewhere that quotes this verse, shown with the purport's own words.

How it feels

Communal anticipation. Arriving devotees, kīrtana, and longing to meet the Lord converge.

The mood of Madhya 11 as a whole, an editorial reading, not the text itself. See the emotional atlas

Further reading

Madhya 11: The Beḍā-kīrtana Pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu

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

When Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya tried his best to arrange a meeting between Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and King Pratāparudra, the Lord flatly denied his request. At this time Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya returned from his governmental post, and he praised King Pratāparudra highly in Lord Caitanya’s presence.
Read the whole chapter summaryBack to this verse in Madhya 11
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Word for word

Learn the words of the verse.

  1. niṣkiñcanasyaof a person who has completely detached himself from material enjoyment
  2. bhagavatthe Supreme Personality of Godhead
  3. bhajanain serving
  4. unmukhasyawho is eager to be engaged
  5. pāramto the other side
  6. paramdistant
  7. jigamiṣoḥwho is desiring to go
  8. bhava-sāgarasyaof the ocean of material existence
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Key ideas in this verse

The themes of love and mercy this verse speaks of.

  • 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”

  • Vipralambha · Love in separation

    Separation that intensifies remembrance and longing; especially central to the confidential pastimes at Purī. · In the Prema Atlas

    In this verse: “lamenting”

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

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Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

How does the aim of loving service without material motives help you understand spiritual advancement?

Practice

Take a quiet minute today to reflect on loving service to the Lord, and identify one material motive you wish to leave behind.

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Śrīla Prabhupāda speaks

His recorded lectures on this verse, and the talks where he quotes it.

Quoted in 19 lectures. Recordings and transcripts on prabhupada.io.

Quoted in 19 lectures

In each of these he quotes this verse while speaking on another verse or subject. "Find the quote" opens the transcript at that spot.

Live this todayCross the Material Ocean Through Spiritual LifeThis 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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