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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 21.20
এক এক গোপ করে যে বৎস চারণ ।
কোটি, অর্বুদ, শঙ্খ, পদ্ম, তাহার গণন ॥ ২০ ॥
eka eka gopa kare ye vatsa cāraṇa
koṭi, arbuda, śaṅkha, padma, tāhāra gaṇana
“Each of the cowherd boys was tending calves to the extent of a koṭi, arbuda, śaṅkha and padma. That is the way of counting.
Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.ioThree study points drawn from the translation and purport.
Each cowherd boy tended calves counted in koṭi, arbuda, śaṅkha and padma.
The Vedic enumeration system gives names to successively larger quantities. Each item in the sequence is ten times greater than the previous one.
These large numbers describe how many calves each cowherd boy cared for. All these boys were companions of Kṛṣṇa.
Śrīla Prabhupāda's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.
Awe becoming attraction. The Lord’s vast opulence is placed beside the intimate sweetness of Kṛṣṇa.
The mood of Madhya 21 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:
In this chapter Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu fully describes Kṛṣṇaloka, the spiritual sky, the Causal Ocean and the material world, which consists of innumerable universes. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu then describes Lord Brahmā’s interview with Kṛṣṇa at Dvārakā and the Lord’s curbing the pride of Brahmā.Read the whole chapter summaryBack to this verse in Madhya 21
Learn the words of the verse.
The themes of love and mercy this verse speaks of.
Vraja-smaraṇa · Remembrance of Vṛndāvana
The remembered sweetness of Vraja that colors Mahāprabhu’s pilgrimage, Ratha-yātrā, and later states of separation. · In the Prema Atlas
In this verse: “cowherd”
Concept links are an editorial study map; only the verse is the text itself.
Take one thing from this verse into your day.
What do these large quantities help me appreciate about the cowherd boys’ care of the calves?
Write “niyuta → koṭi → arbuda,” marking each step as ten times greater, and recall that these quantities describe calves.
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.
Ask Caitanya CaritamrtaHave a question about CC Madhya 21.20? Get an answer from the verses themselves.