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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

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 ›

Śrī Caitanya Caritamrta · Text Madhya 6.140

সর্বৈশ্বর্যপরিপূর্ণ স্বয়ং ভগবান্ ।

তাঁরে নিরাকার করি’ করহ ব্যাখ্যান ॥ ১৪০ ॥

sarvaiśvarya-paripūrṇa svayaṁ bhagavān

tāṅre nirākāra kari’ karaha vyākhyāna

Translation

“Actually, the Supreme Absolute Truth is a person, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, full with all opulences. You are trying to explain Him as impersonal and formless.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

Three study points drawn from the translation and purport.

The Supreme Absolute Truth Is a Person

  1. 1

    Brahman means the greatest of all, and the greatest is Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He possesses all potencies and opulence in full.

  2. 2

    Kṛṣṇa possesses all riches, strength, reputation, knowledge, beauty and renunciation. He is eternally a person and eternally supreme.

  3. 3

    Although living entities and material nature are sometimes called Brahman, Kṛṣṇa remains Parabrahman, the Supreme. Explaining Him impersonally distorts the real meaning of Brahman.

Key points from the purport
  • He possesses all potencies and opulence in full; therefore the Absolute Truth, the greatest of all, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
  • Whether one says “Brahman” or “the Supreme Personality of Godhead,” the fact is the same, for they are identical.
  • Although the living entities or material nature are sometimes described as Brahman, Parabrahman — the Supreme, the greatest of all Brahmans — is still Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

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

Doubt transformed to devotion. Intellectual resistance gives way to a profound change of heart.

The mood of Madhya 6 as a whole, an editorial reading, not the text itself. See the emotional atlas

Further reading

Madhya 6: The Liberation of Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya

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

The Bhaṭṭācārya was an impersonalist, but Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu proved that the Absolute Truth is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He proved that the conceptions of the Māyāvādī philosophers concerning the impersonal Absolute Truth are incorrect.
Read the whole chapter summaryBack to this verse in Madhya 6
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Word for word

Learn the words of the verse.

  1. sarva-aiśvarya-paripūrṇafull with all opulences
  2. svayampersonally
  3. bhagavānthe Supreme Personality of Godhead
  4. tāṅreHim
  5. nirākāraimpersonal
  6. kari’making
  7. karahayou make
  8. vyākhyānaexplanation,
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Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

How does Kṛṣṇa’s possession of all opulences help me understand His personal nature?

Practice

List the six opulences named here and pause to reflect that Kṛṣṇa possesses each in full.

Live this todayThe Supreme Absolute Truth Is a PersonThis 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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