FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.20.39

शनै: शनैर्जहु: पङ्कं स्थलान्यामं च वीरुध: । यथाहंममतां धीरा: शरीरादिष्वनात्मसु ॥ ३९ ॥
śanaiḥ śanair jahuḥ paṅkaṁ
[shanaih shanair jahuh pankam]
sthalāny āmaṁ ca vīrudhaḥ
[sthalaany aamam cha veerudhah]
yathāhaṁ-mamatāṁ dhīrāḥ
[yathaaham-mamataam dheeraah]
śarīrādiṣv anātmasu
[shareeraadishv anaatmasu]
Word-for-word
śanaiḥ śanaiḥ — very gradually jahuḥ — gave up paṅkam — their mud sthalāni — the places of land āmam — their unripe condition ca — and vīrudhaḥ — the plants yathā — as aham - mamatām — egotism and possessiveness dhīrāḥ — sober sages śarīra - ādiṣu — focused upon the material body and other external objects anātmasu — which are completely distinct from the real self .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
śanaiḥ śanair jahuḥ paṅkaṁ
śanaiḥ śanaiḥ
very gradually
jahuḥ
gave up
paṅkam
their mud
sthalāny āmaṁ ca vīrudhaḥ
sthalāni
the places of land
āmam
their unripe condition
ca
and
vīrudhaḥ
the plants
yathāhaṁ-mamatāṁ dhīrāḥ
yathā
as
aham - mamatām
egotism and possessiveness
dhīrāḥ
sober sages
śarīrādiṣv anātmasu
śarīra - ādiṣu
focused upon the material body and other external objects
anātmasu
which are completely distinct from the real self .
Important Words
  • aham-mamatām — egotism and possessiveness ('I' and 'mine')
    Compound: aham (I) + mama (mine) + tā (-ness). The classical pair-diagnosis of conditioned existence (cf. Gītā 2.71). Gauḍīyas insist: śuddha aham-mamatā remains in bhakti — I am Kṛṣṇa's, He is mine — but the referents are corrected.
  • dhīrāḥ — sober ones
    Dhīra — steady, intelligent, sober. The Bhāgavatam's word for one who can perceive the body-soul distinction. Gauḍīyas note: dhīra is necessary but not sufficient — without bhakti, dhīratā is just clean impersonalism.
  • śarīra-ādiṣu — with regard to the body and so on
    Compound locative: śarīra (body) + ādi (etcetera). The ādi extends to mind, intellect, false ego — all the koṣas. Gauḍīyas read the whole catalogue as the field of viveka.
  • anātmasu — with regard to non-self things
    An + ātma + locative plural. The bodies, possessions, identities that are not the ātmā. Gauḍīyas note: even śarīra is anātmā, and this is the fundamental Bhāgavatam distinction (3.31 — yan na duhkhena sambhinnam).
  • āmam — unripe
    Āma — raw, unripe (cf. āma in āyurveda). The earth's plants ripen out of unripeness. Gauḍīyas use āma also for half-digested saṁskāras — bhakti is the cooking that finishes them.
Gradually the different areas of land gave up their muddy condition and the plants grew past their unripe stage, in the same way that sober sages give up egotism and possessiveness. These are based on things different from the real self, namely, the material body and its by-products.
Purport

The word ādiṣu in this verse indicates the by-products of the body, such as children, home and wealth.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Gradually the different areas of land gave up their muddy condition and the plants grew past their unripe stage, in the same way that sober sages give up egotism and possessiveness. These are based on things different from the real self-namely, the material body and its by-products.
Commentary

As the intelligent person gives up everything unrelated to the soul, paramatma and Krsna (anatmasu), that is everything related to the body, false ego and possessiveness, and tries to develop attachment to Krsna, so the fields water bodies give up a dirty state and plants give up their unripe state.

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

Possessiveness is compared to the mud because it is external and identity of aham is compared to the immature plant because it is internal.

Śrīdhara Svāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

Gradually land and the plants give up their immature condition. Similarly the wise give up possessiveness of body, sons etc. which are different from the ātmā. This is because they are wise, having discrimination. Possessiveness is compared to the mud because it is external and identity of aham is compared to the immature plant because it is internal.

Related values & verses
Related values
Anahankarah (Freedom from False Ego)Atma Nigraha (Self-control)Karuna (Kindness / Compassion)
Related verses
BG 15.9 BG 18.64 BG 2.62 BG 3.11 BG 12.3 SB 4.29.2 BG 9.11 BG 8.2 BG 7.8 BG 10.3 BG 13.1 BG 5.18 BG 6.5 BG 1.1 BG 16.4
Concepts
Atma
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Land gives up muddiness, plants mature past unripeness — like sages giving up egotism and possessiveness, which were based on the body and its by-products. Maturation is a giving-up, not a holding-on.
Reflection Questions
  • What current 'unripeness' in me is the doorway to a real maturation if I let it pass through?
  • Where am I still defending mud as if it were ground?
Analogy

Earth gives up its mud and plants ripen out of unripeness — like sober souls giving up ahaṁ-mamatā regarding the body. The verse names exactly the Vedānta-target: false identification with deha. Gauḍīyas qualify: Kṛṣṇa-bhakti does not abolish ahaṁ but reorients it — śuddha-ahaṁ is 'I am Kṛṣṇa's servant,' not 'I am no one.'

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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