Srimad Bhagavatam: Canto 11

(1) The Supreme Lord said: 'A soul free from desire who accepts My shelter, should, conscientiously performing the personal duties I spoke about [see also in e.g. 10.60: 52 and B.G. 3: 35], practice the varnâs'rama system of behaving oneself in society [B.G. 4: 13]. (2) A purified soul should understand that all endeavors of embodied souls who, focussed on sense gratification, take the material qualities for true, are doomed to fail [see also B.G. 13: 32]. (3) Just as the sensual matters, seen by the meditator in the realm of sleep or in his fantasy, do not help him because of their great variety, also the intelligence is ineffectual when being lead by the senses directed at a diversity of outer appearances [B.G. 2: 41 & 9: 15]. (4) Devoted to Me one gives up one's active [material] life [pravritti] and engages in a contemplative life [nivritti]; when one is fully absorbed in [self] inquiry one is no longer bound to the injunctions for performing material labor [karma, see 7.15: 47]. (5) Devoted to Me one should at all times respect the vow of yoga [yama, the vidhi] and its regulated practice [niyama] as good as one can, as also respect a guru who knows My form and is peaceful under My control [see also 7.14: 41-42]. (6) Humble without false pride and jealousy, be industrious [in devotion], non-possessive, fixed in friendship, without haste, interested in inquiring and free from spite and idle talk. (7) Remaining neutral with an equal vision towards one's wife, children, home, land, relatives and bank account and such, one should recognize one's self-interest in that of others [see B.G. 5: 18].

(8) The soul is the self-enlightened seer different from the gross and subtle body, just as fire, emitting light as it burns, differs from the firewood [see also B.G. 2: 16-24]. (9) Just like the different qualities of being dormant, manifest, being large or small are there [of the fire], there are also the qualities of the material body the higher self accepts that has entered it [see also 3.24: 6, 4.9: 7, 10.37: 10-11, 10.46: 36]. (10) This body, which was formed by the basic qualities of nature [expanding] from the Original Person [see B.G. 8: 4], ties the living entity to a material existence [to samsâra], from which it breaks away by the knowledge of the Soul. (11) One should therefore, by cultivating knowledge, get in touch with the pure, transcendental [Supreme] Soul situated within oneself [2.2 and B.G. 9: 5] and gradually give up one's minding about the material affair. (12) The âcârya can be compared to the lower part of [a pile of] kindling wood, the disciple to the top part and the instructions to the [kindling] stick used in between, while the knowledge that brings happiness is there like the fire [that brings light, compare 9.14: 44-46]. (13) This purest intelligence of the souls of experience [the âcâryas], drives away the illusion originating from the gunas. Thereupon that intelligence, which rose because of those modes, finds peace itself, the way a fire burns up when it runs out of fuel [see also 11.3: 12].

(14-16) For the controllers and enjoyers of karma, fruitful labor, there is of course the eternal duality of happiness and grief, time and place, to have and to be. When you take all that is matter for eternal and complete, your intelligence is ruled by all the different forms and changes belonging to it. All living beings thinking thus, oh Uddhava, time and again will find themselves being born [falling ill and dying] and so on [see 3.11]; after all, being united with a form one is bound to the [conditioning] limbs of time [of sun and moon, day and night etc.]. (17) In this, one can clearly see the lack of independence of the karmic controller, as also the happiness and unhappiness of such an enjoyer. What purpose is served by someone [that] helpless [see B.G. 9: 3 and 11.9: 1]? (18) Among the embodied beings the fool is sometimes unhappy and even the sage is neither always happy. Wishing to be happy always is a useless endeavor and in fact something most egotistical [see also B.G. 2: 15 and 11.9: 4]. (19) Even if one manages to achieve happiness and escape distress, one still has no direct knowledge of the [yoga] process by which death loses its power [compare B.G. 10: 34]. (20) What guarantee of material happiness would a material object or lust be able to provide the person? With death never pleasing close at hand such a thing gives no satisfaction, like with a person condemned who is led to his place of execution. (21) What we heard about [heaven] as also what we know from our own experience [on earth], is spoilt by rivalry, fault-finding, lapse and decay. Just like with agriculture where many obstacles are in the way [of a happy result], it is useless to desire for [perfect] material happiness [see also 11.3: 20]. (22) When one manages to perfectly practice one's righteousness [dharma] without being troubled by hindrances, even the status one thus acquires will not last forever. Please, listen therefore to the following [see also B.G. 2: 14].

(23) On earth having worshiped the gods with sacrifices, the performer goes to the heavenly worlds where he may enjoy like a god the celestial pleasures he achieved [see B.G. 3: 11 and 4: 12]. (24) Shining in the temple [the 'vimâna'] because of his accumulated merit he enjoys, being surrounded by goddesses wearing charming clothes, while he [as he leaves this earth] is glorified with songs by the singers of heaven. (25) Surrounded by the sounds of bells he fares to his desire with heavenly women, but while relaxing comfortably in the pleasure gardens of the gods, he in his delight has no awareness of his downfall [see e.g. 7.15: 69-73]. (26) After for long having enjoyed the heavens until his pious credits were used up, having exhausted his merits he against his will falls down from heaven, [not properly fixed] being forced from his course by time [compare B.G. 9: 20-22]. (27-29) When he, due to his material involvement, is engaged in actions against the dharma or, not having conquered his senses, lives wantonly as a miserable, greedy philanderer, is of violence against other living beings, kills animals against the rules and worships hordes of ghosts and spirits [compare 7.12: 12], a living being will, once he passed away, thereupon helplessly land in the deepest darkness of the hellish worlds. He will, because of what he did, again have to accept a material body to perform therewith activities that [again] cause him great grief in the future. What happiness would someone find being sworn to activities that invariably lead to death [see also 5.26: 37 and B.G. 16: 19-21]? (30) In all the worlds among all their leaders there exists fear of Me [in the form of Time]; the individual souls living as long as a kalpa fear Me, and even the one supreme, Brahmâ, who lives for two parârdhas, fears Me [see also 1.13: 17-20, 3.8: 20, 3.11: 33, 3.25: 42, 3.26: 16, 3.29: 37, 3.29: 40-45, 5.24: 15, 5.24: 28]. (31) The material senses, stimulated by the qualities of nature, give rise to activities, and the individual soul, the jîva, who is fully engaged by the materially oriented senses and the gunas, undergoes the various karmic consequences [see also 3.32 and B.G. 3: 27]. (32) As long as there is the differentiation of the modes of nature, there will be the different forms of existence of the soul, and as long as there are these different states of the soul, there will be [karmic] dependence [see also B.G. 17: 2]. (33) As long as one is not free from this dependence there will be fear for the Lord and Controller [who is the Time]. They [then] who enjoy this [karmic bond] will become bewildered and always be full of sorrow. (34) With the given reciprocal action [or the operation] of the basic qualities of nature, one calls Me variously the Time, the Soul, the Vedic Knowledge, the World, [the original nature or] Nature [at large], as also the Dharma.'

(35) S'rî Uddhava said: 'Even though the one embodied is present in the midst of the natural modes, he is not necessarily bound to what incessantly operates upon him from the material body [like happiness and distress]. In other words, how can it happen that someone, as a free soul, is caught in the grip of those basic qualities, oh Almighty One? (36-37) How is he situated, how does he enjoy, or by what symptoms can he be known? What would he eat or how would he evacuate, lie down or sit [compare B.G. 14: 21]? Please explain to me what I ask You, oh Infallible One, oh Best Answerer of Questions. This at the same time being eternally bound and being eternally liberated is something confusing me.'

The Supreme Lord said: 'A soul free from desire who accepts My shelter, should, conscientiously performing the personal duties I spoke about [see also in e.g. 10.60: 52 and B.G. 3: 35], practice the varnâs'rama system of behaving oneself in society [B.G. 4: 13].

The Supreme Lord said: 'A soul free from desire accepting My shelter should, in caring for the personal duties to God I spoke of [see also in e.g. 10.60: 52 and B.G. 3: 35], practice the varnâs'rama system of society [B.G. 4: 13]. (Vedabase)

Text 2

A purified soul should understand that all endeavors of embodied souls who, focussed on sense gratification, take the material qualities for true are doomed to fail [see also B.G. 13: 32].

A purified soul should see how of the ones embodied who self-centered take the sensual for true, all endeavors are doomed to fail [see also B.G. 13: 32]. (Vedabase)

Text 3

Just as the sensual matters, seen by the meditator in the realm of sleep or in his fantasy, do not help him because of their great variety, also the intelligence is ineffectual when being lead by the senses directed at a diversity of outer appearances [B.G. 2: 41 & 9: 15].

What the meditator sees in the realm of sleep or in his fantasy is as futile as it is variagated. So too is one not really using one's intelligence when one is guided by the self that is separated by the modal qualities [B.G. 2: 41 & 9: 15]. (Vedabase)

Text 4

Devoted to Me one gives up one's active [material] life [pravritti] and engages in a contemplative life [nivritti]; when one is fully absorbed in [self] inquiry one is no longer bound to the injunctions for performing material labor [karma, see 7.15: 47].

Devoted to Me one should perform the work that needs to be done for the detachment [nivritti] and forsake the activities in attachment [pravritti]. One shouldn't take heed of the injunctions for working for results when one is perfectly engaged in the search for spiritual truth [see 7.15: 47]. (Vedabase)

Text 5

Devoted to Me one should at all times respect the vow of yoga [yama, the vidhi] and its regulated practice [niyama] as good as one can, as also respect a guru who knows My form and is peaceful under My control [see also 7.14: 41-42].

The one devoted must always observe the basic rules [the commandments, the vidhi] and respect the co-ordinate ones at a suitable time [the niyama]. Also he must be of service to the peaceful guru who, knowing My form, does not differ from Me [see also 7.14: 41-42]. (Vedabase)

Text 6

Humble without false pride and jealousy, be industrious [in devotion], non-possessive, fixed in friendship, without haste, interested in inquiring and free from spite and idle talk.

With humility, not considering oneself the doer, be industrious, non-possessive, fixed in friendship, not hasty, interested in being inquisitive and free from spite and idle talk. (Vedabase)

Text 7

Remaining neutral with an equal vision towards one's wife, children, home, land, relatives and bank account and such, one should recognize one's self-interest in that of others [see B.G. 5: 18].

Remaining neutral concerning one's wife, children, home, land, folk and bank-account and such, should one recognize one's own interest in that of each [see B.G. 5: 18]. (Vedabase)

Text 8

The soul is the self-enlightened seer different from the gross and subtle body, just as fire, emitting light as it burns, differs from the firewood [see also B.G. 2: 16-24].

The soul is the self-enlightened seer who is different from the gross and subtle body, the same way as fire emitting light with its burning differs from the firewood [see also B.G. 2: 16-24]. (Vedabase)

Text 9

Just like the different qualities of being dormant, manifest, being large or small are there [of the fire], there are also the qualities of the material body the higher self accepts that has entered it [see also 3.24: 6, 4.9: 7, 10.37: 10-11, 10.46: 36].

Lodged within [the wood] assumes fire [upon ignition] its various dormant qualities that manifest as tiny or large etc. The same way assumes the spirit soul the qualities belonging to the body [see also 3.24: 6, 4.9: 7, 10.37: 10-11, 10.46: 36]. (Vedabase)

Text 10

This body, which was formed by the basic qualities of nature [expanding] from the Original Person [see B.G. 8: 4], ties the living entity to a material existence [to samsâra], from which it breaks away by the knowledge of the Soul.

That what, with this body that was formed by the modes, is tied to the samsâra ocean of matter which belongs to the Original Person [see B.G. 8: 4], is what is called the living entity of which the ties of attachment are cut by the knowledge of the Soul. (Vedabase)

Text 11

One should therefore, by cultivating knowledge, get in touch with the pure, transcendental [Supreme] Soul situated within oneself [2.2 and B.G. 9: 5] and gradually give up one's minding about the material affair.

Therefore should one, by cultivating the knowledge of the Soul as being situated in oneself [2.2 and B.G. 9: 5], pure in one's approach with the realization of the Supreme, gradually let go of this concept of the material affair [as being an independent reality]. (Vedabase)

Text 12

The âcârya can be compared to the lower part of [a pile of] kindling wood, the disciple to the top part and the instructions to the [kindling] stick used in between, while the knowledge that brings happiness is there like the fire [that brings light, compare 9.14: 44-46].

The âcârya can be compared to the lower piece of kindling wood, the disciple to the top piece and the instructions to the stick used in between, while the knowledge is there as the fire that brings happiness [compare 9.14: 44-46]. (Vedabase)

Text 13

This purest intelligence of the souls of experience [the âcâryas], drives away the illusion originating from the gunas. Thereupon that intelligence, which rose because of those modes, finds peace itself, the way a fire burns up when it runs out of fuel [see also 11.3: 12].

This purest intelligence that is transmitted by the experienced [the âcâryas], repels the illusion stemming from the gunas and is, in completely burning up what was established by the modes, itself pacified the way fire pacifies when it runs out of fuel [see also 11.3: 12]. (Vedabase)

Text 14-16

For the controllers and enjoyers of karma, fruitful labor, there is of course the eternal duality of happiness and grief, time and place, to have and to be. When you take all that is matter for eternal and complete, your intelligence is ruled by all the different forms and changes belonging to it. All living beings thinking thus, oh Uddhava, time and again will find themselves being born [falling ill and dying] and so on [see 3.11]; after all, being united with a form one is bound to the [conditioning] limbs of time [of sun and moon, day and night etc.].

When you with this in mind think of the variegatedness of the different ways of making a living, when you think of those enjoyers of happiness and distress; if you keep in mind the perpetual existence of the material world, the time, the revealed scriptures and the soul; when you face the fact that all knowledge is subject to change because it is based upon the difference created by all the forms of existence and the changes of the sense objects; then, o Uddhava, [you must admit from merely that material vision * that] one thus always has the states of existence of being born [of being old and being diseased] and so on. For everyone embodied happens to have a body [which found its order] by the different limbs of time [knowing the divisions according the sun and moon, see 3.11]. (Vedabase)

Text 17

In this, one can clearly see the lack of independence of the karmic controller, as also the happiness and unhappiness of such an enjoyer. What purpose is served by someone [that] helpless [see B.G. 9: 3 and 11.9: 1]?

Of the performer who as the enjoyer therein furthermore is of fruitive activities, is the lack of independence clearly visible and can the happiness and unhappiness be observed; what value indeed can be derived from not [really for lasting happiness, see B.G. 9: 3 and 11.9: 1] being in control? (Vedabase)

Text 18

Among the embodied beings the fool is sometimes unhappy and even the sage is neither always happy. Wishing to be happy always is a useless endeavor and in fact something most egotistical [see also B.G. 2: 15 and 11.9: 4].

Among the embodied the foolish are not always happy and similarly even the ones intelligent are not always happy. The desire to be happy always is useless and in fact something most egotistical [see also B.G. 2: 15 and 11.9: 4]. (Vedabase)

Text 19

Even if one manages to achieve happiness and escape distress, one still has no direct knowledge of the [yoga] process by which death loses its power [compare B.G. 10: 34].

Even if they know how to achieve happiness and escape distress, they still do not know the uniting of consciousness [the yoga process] by which death will not be able to exert its power [compare B.G. 10: 34]. (Vedabase)

Text 20

What guarantee of material happiness would a material object or lust be able to provide the person? With death never pleasing close at hand such a thing gives no satisfaction, like with a person condemned who is led to his place of execution.

What certainty of happiness or lust a material object would provide the person? With death never pleasing standing nearby is he like someone condemned who is led to the place of execution. (Vedabase)

Text 21

What we heard about [heaven] as also what we know from our own experience [on earth], is spoilt by rivalry, fault-finding, lapse and decay. Just like with agriculture where many obstacles are in the way [of a happy result], it is useless to desire for [perfect] material happiness [see also 11.3: 20].

What we heard about [heaven] as well as what we know from our own experience [earth] is spoilt by rivalry, fault-finding, lapse and decay. Just like with agriculture many obstacles are in the way of a happy result, it is also useless to desire for perfect material happiness [see also 11.3: 20]. (Vedabase)

Text 22

When one manages to perfectly practice one's righteousness [dharma] without being troubled by hindrances, even the status one thus acquires will not last forever. Please, listen therefore to the following [see also B.G. 2: 14].

When one in one's righteousness not is troubled by hindrances and one manages to excel in practice, even the status one thus acquired will not last forever. Please, listen therefore to the following [see also B.G. 2: 14]. (Vedabase)

Text 23

On earth having worshiped the gods with sacrifices, the performer goes to the heavenly worlds where he may enjoy like a god the celestial pleasures he achieved [see B.G. 3: 11 and 4: 12].

Out here having worshiped the gods with sacrifices the performer goes to the heavenly worlds where he like a god may enjoy the celestial pleasures he achieved [see B.G. 3: 11 and 4: 12]. (Vedabase)

Text 24

Shining in the temple [the 'vimâna'] because of his accumulated merit he enjoys, being surrounded by goddesses wearing charming clothes, while he [as he leaves this earth] is glorified with songs by the singers of heaven.

He shines in the temple [the 'vimâna'] because of his accumulated merit and he is, surrounded by goddesses who wear charming clothes, on his way [leaving this earth] by the singers of heaven glorified with songs. (Vedabase)

Text 25

Surrounded by the sounds of bells he fares to his desire with heavenly women, but while relaxing comfortably in the pleasure gardens of the gods, he in his delight has no awareness of his downfall [see e.g. 7.15: 69-73].

While he with the women of heaven fares to his desire he with that notion of order is framed by the sounds of bells. In delight he forgets about the downfall he experienced [on earth] as he relaxes comfortably in the pleasure gardens of the God-conscious [see e.g. 7.15: 69-73]. (Vedabase)

Text 26

After for long having enjoyed the heavens until his pious credits were used up, having exhausted his merits he against his will falls down from heaven, [not properly fixed] being forced from his course by time [compare B.G. 9: 20-22].

He, for long enjoying the heavens until his pious credit is used up and his piety is exhausted, against his will falls down from heaven, because he turned away from time [and thus was unsteady, compare B.G. 9: 20-22]. (Vedabase)

Text 27-29

When he, due to his material involvement, is engaged in actions against the dharma or, not having conquered his senses, lives wantonly as a miserable, greedy philanderer, is of violence against other living beings, kills animals against the rules and worships hordes of ghosts and spirits [compare 7.12: 12], a living being will, once he passed away, thereupon helplessly land in the deepest darkness of the hellish worlds. He will, because of what he did, again have to accept a material body to perform therewith activities that [again] cause him great grief in the future. What happiness would someone find being sworn to activities that invariably lead to death [see also 5.26: 37 and B.G. 16: 19-21]?

If he, due to his material involvement, is engaged in actions against the dharma or, not having conquered his senses, lives wantonly as a miserable, greedy philanderer, is of violence against other living beings, kills animals against the rules and worships hordes of ghosts and spirits [compare 7.12: 12], a living being will, once he passed on, helplessly thereupon land in the deepest darkness of the hellish worlds. He will, because of what he did, again accept a material body to perform activities that [again] cause him great grief in the future. What happiness would one find in swearing by activities that invariably lead to death [see also 5.26: 37 and B.G. 16: 19-21]? (Vedabase)

Text 30

In all the worlds among all their leaders there exists fear of Me [in the form of Time]; the individual souls living as long as a kalpa fear Me, and even the one supreme, Brahmâ, who lives for two parârdhas, fears Me [see also 1.13: 17-20, 3.8: 20, 3.11: 33, 3.25: 42, 3.26: 16, 3.29: 37, 3.29: 40-45, 5.24: 15, 5.24: 28].

In all the worlds and among all their leaders there is fear of Me; the individual souls living for a kalpa fear Me and even the one supreme, Brahmâ who lives for two parârdhas, fears Me [see also 1.13: 17-20, 3.8: 20, 3.11: 33, 3.25: 42, 3.26: 16, 3.29: 37, 3.29: 40-45, 5.24: 15, 5.24: 28]. (Vedabase)

Text 31

The material senses, stimulated by the qualities of nature, give rise to activities, and the individual soul, the jîva, who is fully engaged by the materially oriented senses and the gunas, undergoes the various karmic consequences [see also 3.32 and B.G. 3: 27].

The material senses stimulated by the modes of nature give rise to activities and the individual soul, the jîva, who is fully engaged by the materially oriented senses and the gunas, experiences the various karmic consequences [see also 3.32 and B.G. 3: 27]. (Vedabase)

Text 32

As long as there is the differentiation of the modes of nature, there will be the different forms of existence of the soul, and as long as there are these different states of the soul, there will be [karmic] dependence [see also B.G. 17: 2].

As long as there are the separate existences of the modes of nature will there be the different states of existence of the soul, and as long as there are the different states of existence of the soul, there for sure thus will be [the karmic] dependence [see also B.G. 17: 2]. (Vedabase)

Text 33

As long as one is not free from this dependence there will be fear for the Lord and Controller [who is the Time]. They [then] who enjoy this [karmic bond] will become bewildered and always be full of sorrow.

As long as one is not free from the dependence will there be fear of the Controller [the Time]. They who devote themselves to this [dependence] will, being bewildered, always be full of sorrow. (Vedabase)

Text 34

With the given reciprocal action [or the operation] of the basic qualities of nature, one calls Me variously the Time, the Soul, the Vedic Knowledge, the World, [the original nature or] Nature [at large], as also the Dharma.'

With the agitation by the modes of nature, one calls Me variously the Time, the Self, the Vedic Knowledge, the World, Nature, as also Dharma.' (Vedabase)

Text 35

S'rî Uddhava said: 'Even though the one embodied is present in the midst of the natural modes, he is not necessarily bound to what incessantly operates upon him from the material body [like happiness and distress]. In other words, how can it happen that someone, as a free soul, is caught in the grip of those basic qualities, oh Almighty One?

S'rî Uddhava said: 'Even though the one embodied is present in the midst of the modes of nature he is not necessarily bound to what forces itself upon him from the material body [the happiness and distress]. In other words, how can it happen that one as a free soul is bound by the modes, o Almighty One? (Vedabase)

Text 36-37

How is he situated, how does he enjoy, or by what symptoms can he be known? What would he eat or how would he evacuate, lie down or sit [compare B.G. 14: 21]? Please explain to me what I ask You, oh Infallible One, oh Best Answerer of Questions. This at the same time being eternally bound and being eternally liberated is something confusing me.'

How is he situated, how does he enjoy, or by what symptoms can he be known? What would he eat or how would he evacuate, lie down or sit [compare B.G. 14: 21]? Explain to me what I ask You, o Infallible One, o Best of All the Ones who Know to Answer Questions. This at the same time being eternally bound and eternally being liberated is something that confounds me.' (Vedabase)

*: This philosophy is known to be propounded by the followers of Jaimini Kavi who defend the pravritti mârga of regulated sense gratification before the nivritti-mârga of activities in renunciation; something to which the paramparâ offering this book, with this verse, strongly opposes pointing out that one is thus eternally stuck, nitya-baddha, in repeated birth, old age, disease etc.