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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 5.43
পুত্র বলে, — “প্রতিমা সাক্ষী, সেহ দূর দেশে ।
কে তোমার সাক্ষী দিবে, চিন্তা কর কিসে ॥ ৪৩ ॥
putra bale, — “pratimā sākṣī, seha dūra deśe
ke tomāra sākṣī dibe, cintā kara kise
His son replied, “The Deity may be a witness, but He is in a distant country. How can He come to bear witness against you? Why are you so anxious over this?
Read this verse on Vedabase.ioThis verse has no purport; its meaning is explained by the verses around it.
Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.
The son acknowledged that the Deity might be a witness.
He argued that the Deity was in a distant country and questioned how He could come to bear witness.
On that basis, he questioned why his father was so anxious.
Faith vindicated. The Deity bears witness; anxiety over a broken promise becomes astonishment and relief.
The mood of Madhya 5 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 Gopāla Deity acted as a witness. When the two brāhmaṇas returned to Vidyānagara, the younger brāhmaṇa raised the question of this marriage, but the elderly brāhmaṇa, due to obligations to his friends and wife, answered that he could not remember his promise.Read the whole chapter summaryBack to this verse in Madhya 5
Learn the words of the verse.
Take one thing from this verse into your day.
What assumption lies behind the son's claim that his father need not worry?
Reread the son's question and note how he uses distance to dismiss the witness.
Study points are short summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport on Vedabase.
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