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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 14: Performance of the Vṛndāvana Pastimes
Madhya 14.166Madhya 14.168

Śrī Caitanya Caritamrta · Text Madhya 14.167

অষ্ট ‘সাত্ত্বিক’, হর্ষাদি ‘ব্যভিচারী’ যাঁর ।

‘সহজ প্রেম’, বিংশতি ‘ভাব’-অলঙ্কার ॥ ১৬৭ ॥

aṣṭa ‘sāttvika’, harṣādi ‘vyabhicārī’ yāṅra

‘sahaja prema’, viṁśati ‘bhāva’-alaṅkāra

Translation

“The transcendental ornaments of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s body include the eight sāttvikas, or transcendental symptoms, the thirty-three vyabhicārī-bhāvas, beginning with harṣa, or jubilation in natural love, and the twenty bhāvas, or ecstatic emotional ornaments.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

The Many Ornaments of Ecstatic Love

  1. 1

    Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s transcendental ornaments include eight sāttvikas, or transcendental symptoms, and twenty bhāvas, or ecstatic emotional ornaments.

  2. 2

    They also include thirty-three vyabhicārī-bhāvas, bodily symptoms manifest in ecstatic love.

  3. 3

    These include dainya, meekness; smṛti, remembrance; dhṛti, forbearance; and harṣa, jubilation.

Connected verses· 1

Quoted in the purport ofCC Madhya 23.52

Nirveda, harṣa and other symptoms are explained in Madhya-līlā 14.167.

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

Intimacy and ecstatic play. Mercy to Pratāparudra and discussion of the gopīs reveal deep relational sweetness.

The mood of Madhya 14 as a whole, an editorial reading, not the text itself. See the emotional atlas

Further reading

Madhya 14: Performance of the Vṛndāvana Pastimes

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

The Lord, in His ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa, immediately embraced the King and thus bestowed mercy upon him. When there was an offering of prasādam in the garden, Lord Caitanya also partook of it.
Read the whole chapter summaryBack to this verse in Madhya 14
2

Word for word

Learn the words of the verse.

  1. aṣṭaeight
  2. sāttvikatranscendental symptoms
  3. harṣa-ādilike jubilation
  4. vyabhicārīdistinctive features
  5. yāṅraof whose
  6. sahaja premanatural love
  7. viṁśatitwenty
  8. bhāvaof ecstasy
  9. alaṅkāraornaments
3

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”, “ecstatic love”

  • Rādhā-bhāva · The confidential inner purpose

    The Lord’s desire to taste the love and perspective of Śrī Rādhā, illuminated by later ecstatic pastimes. · In the Prema Atlas

    In this verse: “rādhārāṇī’s”

  • Bhāva & rasa · The language of sacred feeling

    Transcendental devotional moods and relationships, discussed explicitly in Rāmānanda’s dialogue and the teachings on prema. · In the Prema Atlas

    In this verse: “bhāvas”

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

What do you notice about the variety of symptoms described as manifesting in ecstatic love?

Practice

Choose three terms from the purport and copy each with its given English meaning.

Live this todayThe Many Ornaments of Ecstatic 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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