Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 11 - Chapter 3

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 1 Sanskrit: श्रीराजोवाचपरस्य विष्णोरीशस्य मायिनामपि मोहिनीम् ।मायां वेदितुमिच्छामो भगवन्तो ब्रुवन्तु न: ॥ १ ॥ ITRANS: śrī-rājovācaparasya viṣṇor īśasyamāyinām api mohinīmmāyāṁ veditum icchāmobhagavanto bruvantu naḥ Translation: King Nimi said: Now we wish to learn about the illusory potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Viṣṇu, which bewilders even great mystics. My lords, please speak to us about this subject. Purport: According to Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī, in this chapter various saintly sons of Ṛṣabhadeva will speak about the illusory energy (māyā), the means for crossing beyond it, the characteristics of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and prescribed duties for human beings....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 2 Sanskrit: नानुतृप्ये जुषन्युष्मद्वचोहरिकथामृतम् ।संसारतापनिस्तप्तो मर्त्यस्तत्तापभेषजम् ॥ २ ॥ ITRANS: nānutṛpye juṣan yuṣmad-vaco hari-kathāmṛtamsaṁsāra-tāpa-nistaptomartyas tat-tāpa-bheṣajam Translation: Although I am drinking the nectar of your statements about the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, my thirst is not yet satiated. Such nectarean descriptions of the Lord and His devotees are the actual medicine for conditioned souls like me, who are tormented by the threefold miseries of material existence....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 3 Sanskrit: श्रीअन्तरीक्ष उवाचएभिर्भूतानि भूतात्मा महाभूतैर्महाभुज ।ससर्जोच्चावचान्याद्य: स्वमात्रात्मप्रसिद्धये ॥ ३ ॥ ITRANS: śrī-antarīkṣa uvācaebhir bhūtāni bhūtātmāmahā-bhūtair mahā-bhujasasarjoccāvacāny ādyaḥsva-mātrātma-prasiddhaye Translation: Śrī Antarīkṣa said: O mighty-armed King, by activating the material elements, the primeval Soul of all creation has sent forth all living beings in higher and lower species so that these conditioned souls can cultivate either sense gratification or ultimate liberation, according to their desire....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 4 Sanskrit: एवं सृष्टानि भूतानि प्रविष्ट: पञ्चधातुभि: ।एकधा दशधात्मानं विभजन्जुषते गुणान् ॥ ४ ॥ ITRANS: evaṁ sṛṣṭāni bhūtānipraviṣṭaḥ pañca-dhātubhiḥekadhā daśadhātmānaṁvibhajan juṣate guṇān Translation: The Supersoul enters the material bodies of the created beings, activates the mind and senses, and thus causes the conditioned souls to approach the three modes of material nature for sense gratification. Purport: The following is a summary of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura’s commentary on this verse....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 5 Sanskrit: गुणैर्गुणान्स भुञ्जान आत्मप्रद्योतितै: प्रभु: ।मन्यमान इदं सृष्टमात्मानमिह सज्जते ॥ ५ ॥ ITRANS: guṇair guṇān sa bhuñjānaātma-pradyotitaiḥ prabhuḥmanyamāna idaṁ sṛṣṭamātmānam iha sajjate Translation: The individual living being, the master of the material body, uses his material senses, which have been activated by the Supersoul, to try to enjoy sense objects composed of the three modes of nature. Thus he misidentifies the created material body with the unborn eternal self and becomes entangled in the illusory energy of the Lord....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 6 Sanskrit: कर्माणि कर्मभि: कुर्वन्सनिमित्तानि देहभृत् ।तत्तत्कर्मफलं गृह्णन्भ्रमतीह सुखेतरम् ॥ ६ ॥ ITRANS: karmāṇi karmabhiḥ kurvansa-nimittāni deha-bhṛttat tat karma-phalaṁ gṛhṇanbhramatīha sukhetaram Translation: Impelled by deep-rooted material desires, the embodied living entity engages his active sense organs in fruitive activities. He then experiences the results of his material actions by wandering throughout this world in so-called happiness and distress. Purport: The argument may be given that if a living entity were subject to the results of his previous activities there would be no scope for free will; once having committed a sinful action, the living entity would be bound in an endless chain of suffering, being perpetually subject to previous reactions....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 7 Sanskrit: इत्थं कर्मगतीर्गच्छन्बह्वभद्रवहा: पुमान् ।आभूतसम्प्लवात्सर्गप्रलयावश्न‍ुतेऽवश: ॥ ७ ॥ ITRANS: itthaṁ karma-gatīr gacchanbahv-abhadra-vahāḥ pumānābhūta-samplavāt sarga-pralayāv aśnute ’vaśaḥ Translation: Thus the conditioned living entity is forced to experience repeated birth and death. Impelled by the reactions of his own activities, he helplessly wanders from one inauspicious situation to another, suffering from the moment of creation until the time of cosmic annihilation. Purport: According to Śrīla Madhvācārya, after hearing that the living entity is repeatedly subjected to birth and death within the material world, if one still considers such a helpless entity equal to God in all respects one will surely fall into the darkest regions of the universe, from which it is difficult to rise....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 8 Sanskrit: धातूपप्लव आसन्ने व्यक्तं द्रव्यगुणात्मकम् ।अनादिनिधन: कालो ह्यव्यक्तायापकर्षति ॥ ८ ॥ ITRANS: dhātūpaplava āsannevyaktaṁ dravya-guṇātmakamanādi-nidhanaḥ kālohy avyaktāyāpakarṣati Translation: When the annihilation of the material elements is imminent, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His form of eternal time withdraws the manifest cosmos, consisting of gross and subtle features, and the entire universe vanishes into nonmanifestation. Purport: In the Third Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Lord Kapiladeva teaches that the material nature originally exists in an inert state of equilibrium called pradhāna....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 9 Sanskrit: शतवर्षा ह्यनावृष्टिर्भविष्यत्युल्बणा भुवि ।तत्कालोपचितोष्णार्को लोकांस्त्रीन्प्रतपिष्यति ॥ ९ ॥ ITRANS: śata-varṣā hy anāvṛṣṭirbhaviṣyaty ulbaṇā bhuvitat-kālopacitoṣṇārkolokāṁs trīn pratapiṣyati Translation: As cosmic annihilation approaches, a terrible drought takes place on earth for one hundred years. For one hundred years the heat of the sun gradually increases, and its blazing heat begins to torment the three worlds. Purport:

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 10 Sanskrit: पातालतलमारभ्य सङ्कर्षणमुखानल: ।दहन्नूर्ध्वशिखो विष्वग्वर्धते वायुनेरित: ॥ १० ॥ ITRANS: pātāla-talam ārabhyasaṅkarṣaṇa-mukhānalaḥdahann ūrdhva-śikho viṣvagvardhate vāyuneritaḥ Translation: Beginning from Pātālaloka, a fire grows, emanating from the mouth of Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa. Its flames shooting upward, driven by great winds, it scorches everything in all directions. Purport:

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 11 Sanskrit: संवर्तको मेघगणो वर्षति स्म शतं समा: ।धाराभिर्हस्तिहस्ताभिर्लीयते सलिले विराट् ॥ ११ ॥ ITRANS: saṁvartako megha-gaṇovarṣati sma śataṁ samāḥdhārābhir hasti-hastābhirlīyate salile virāṭ Translation: Hordes of clouds called Saṁvartaka pour torrents of rain for one hundred years. Flooding down in raindrops as long as the trunk of an elephant, the deadly rainfall submerges the entire universe in water. Purport:

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 12 Sanskrit: ततो विराजमुत्सृज्य वैराज: पुरुषो नृप ।अव्यक्तं विशते सूक्ष्मं निरिन्धन इवानल: ॥ १२ ॥ ITRANS: tato virājam utsṛjyavairājaḥ puruṣo nṛpaavyaktaṁ viśate sūkṣmaṁnirindhana ivānalaḥ Translation: Then Vairāja Brahmā, the soul of the universal form, gives up his universal body, O King, and enters into the subtle unmanifest nature, like a fire that has run out of fuel. Purport: According to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura the word vairājaḥ in this verse indicates the totality of the individual conditioned souls who originally take birth from Brahmā and are amalgamated back into him at the time of annihilation....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 13 Sanskrit: वायुना हृतगन्धा भू: सलिलत्वाय कल्पते ।सलिलं तद्‍धृतरसं ज्योतिष्ट्वायोपकल्पते ॥ १३ ॥ ITRANS: vāyunā hṛta-gandhā bhūḥsalilatvāya kalpatesalilaṁ tad-dhṛta-rasaṁjyotiṣṭvāyopakalpate Translation: Deprived of its quality of aroma by the wind, the element earth is transformed into water; and water, deprived of its taste by that same wind, is merged into fire. Purport: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives several descriptions of the material creation, by which air is expanded from ether, fire from air, water from fire, and earth from water....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 14 Sanskrit: हृतरूपं तु तमसा वायौ ज्योति: प्रलीयते ।हृतस्पर्शोऽवकाशेन वायुर्नभसि लीयते ।कालात्मना हृतगुणं नभ आत्मनि लीयते ॥ १४ ॥ ITRANS: hṛta-rūpaṁ tu tamasāvāyau jyotiḥ pralīyatehṛta-sparśo ’vakāśenavāyur nabhasi līyatekālātmanā hṛta-guṇaṁnabha ātmani līyate Translation: Fire, deprived of its form by darkness, dissolves into the element air. When the air loses its quality of touch by the influence of space, the air merges into that space....

Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 15 Sanskrit: इन्द्रियाणि मनो बुद्धि: सह वैकारिकैर्नृप ।प्रविशन्ति ह्यहङ्कारं स्वगुणैरहमात्मनि ॥ १५ ॥ ITRANS: indriyāṇi mano buddhiḥsaha vaikārikair nṛpapraviśanti hy ahaṅkāraṁsva-guṇair aham ātmani Translation: My dear King, the material senses and intelligence merge into false ego in the mode of passion, from which they arose; and the mind, along with the demigods, merges into false ego in the mode of goodness. Then the total false ego, along with all of its qualities, merges into the mahat-tattva....