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Study a Verse

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 24: The Sixty-One Explanations of the Ātmārāma Verse
Madhya 24.21Madhya 24.23

Śrī Caitanya Caritamrta · Text Madhya 24.22

বিভুরূপে ব্যাপে, শক্ত্যে ধারণ-পোষণ ।

মাধুর্যশক্ত্যে গোলোক, ঐশ্বর্যে পরব্যোম ॥ ২২ ॥

vibhu-rūpe vyāpe, śaktye dhāraṇa-poṣaṇa

mādhurya-śaktye goloka, aiśvarye paravyoma

Translation

“Through His all-pervasive feature, the Supreme Personality of Godhead has expanded the entire creation. He is holding and maintaining this creation by His extraordinary potency. By His conjugal potency, He maintains the planetary system known as Goloka Vṛndāvana. Through His six opulences, He maintains many Vaikuṇṭha planets.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

Kṛṣṇa Maintains Creation and His Spiritual Abodes

  1. 1

    In His all-pervasive, gigantic form, Lord Kṛṣṇa has covered the creation. He holds and maintains all planetary systems by His inconceivable potencies.

  2. 2

    He maintains His personal abode, Goloka Vṛndāvana, through His conjugal love.

  3. 3

    Through His six opulences, He maintains the spiritual world containing the many Vaikuṇṭha planets.

Key points from the purport
  • In His gigantic form, Lord Kṛṣṇa has covered the creation.
  • He holds all the planetary systems and maintains them by His inconceivable potencies.
  • Similarly, He is maintaining His personal abode, Goloka Vṛndāvana, through His conjugal love, and He is maintaining the spiritual world containing the Vaikuṇṭha planets by His opulences.

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

Intellectual wonder humbled. Many explanations converge on the attractiveness of devotion; a hunter’s heart is transformed.

The mood of Madhya 24 as a whole, an editorial reading, not the text itself. See the emotional atlas

Further reading

Madhya 24: The Sixty-One Explanations of the Ātmārāma Verse

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

According to Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī’s request, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained the well-known Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam verse beginning ātmārāmāś ca munayaḥ. He explained this verse in sixty-one different ways.
Read the whole chapter summaryBack to this verse in Madhya 24
2

Word for word

Learn the words of the verse.

  1. vibhu-rūpein His all-pervasive feature
  2. vyāpeexpands
  3. śaktyeby His potency
  4. dhāraṇa-poṣaṇamaintaining and nourishing
  5. mādhurya-śaktyeby His potency of conjugal love
  6. golokathe planetary system Goloka Vṛndāvana
  7. aiśvaryeand by opulence
  8. para-vyomathe spiritual world
3

Key ideas in this verse

The themes of love and mercy this verse speaks of.

  • 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: “conjugal”

  • 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: “vṛndāvana”

  • 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”

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

How does this description help me see Kṛṣṇa as the maintainer of both material and spiritual worlds?

Practice

Write one sentence naming what Kṛṣṇa maintains through His conjugal love and what He maintains through His opulences.

Live this todayKṛṣṇa Maintains Creation and His Spiritual AbodesThis 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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