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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 Madhya 20.289
‘বিষ্ণু’-রূপ হঞা করে জগৎ পালনে ।
গুণাতীত বিষ্ণু — স্পর্শ নাহি মায়া-সনে ॥ ২৮৯ ॥
‘viṣṇu’-rūpa hañā kare jagat pālane
guṇātīta viṣṇu — sparśa nāhi māyā-sane
“In this way, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His form of Viṣṇu maintains the entire material world. Since He is always beyond the material qualities, the material nature cannot touch Him.
Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.ioThree study points drawn from the translation and purport.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, in His form of Viṣṇu, maintains the entire material world. Material nature cannot touch Him.
The words paramaṁ padam indicate that Lord Viṣṇu is transcendental to the material qualities. He is always superior to living entities controlled by material energy.
Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva are under the jurisdiction of the external energy. Lord Śiva is more powerful than Lord Brahmā and is not accepted as a living entity, yet he is not on the level of Lord Viṣṇu.
Śrīla Prabhupāda's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.
Humility and restored identity. A seeker relinquishes status, asks fundamental questions, and receives sambandha knowledge.
The mood of Madhya 20 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:
Thus the Lord described the many forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He also described the incarnations of God within the material world, incarnations such as the puruṣa-avatāras, manvantara-avatāras, guṇa-avatāras and śaktyāveśa-avatāras.Read the whole chapter summaryBack to this verse in Madhya 20
Learn the words of the verse.
Take one thing from this verse into your day.
How does remaining untouched by material energy distinguish Lord Viṣṇu from the living entities?
Pause today to remember: Lord Viṣṇu maintains the material world while remaining beyond its qualities.
His recorded lectures on this verse, and the talks where he quotes it.
1 lecture given on it. Recordings and transcripts on prabhupada.io.
Study points are short summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport on Vedabase.
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