Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.87.49
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
-
anirdeśye
—
which cannot be described in words
From nir + √diś. The chapter's frame-word, returning from verse 1. Gauḍīyas: the Veda-stuti has been the description of the indescribable — bhakti makes the impossible operational. The recursion is the doctrine.
-
nirguṇe
—
which has no material qualities
Compound: nir (without) + guṇa. Returning from verse 1. Gauḍīyas: now we understand — nirguṇa does not mean attribute-less but free-of-māyā-guṇas. Kṛṣṇa is nirguṇa in the right sense; the chapter has clarified this against Advaita misreading.
-
manaḥ-caret
—
how the mind moves (toward Him)
Phrase: manas (mind) + carati (moves). The optative caret asks: how can the mind operate toward something beyond description? Gauḍīyas: through bhakti — manas yoked to nāma-rūpa-guṇa-līlā. The whole chapter has been the answer.
-
brahmaṇi
—
in the Absolute Truth
Locative of brahman. Same as verse 1. Gauḍīyas: but now we know brahman in its full Bhāgavatam sense — culminating in Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. The locative is more concrete than it seemed in verse 1.
-
praśnaḥ
—
question
From pra + √prach. The chapter is structurally a single answered question. Gauḍīyas: paripraśna is the second limb of receiving truth (BG 4.34); the chapter shows what one great paripraśna across yugas can yield.
"I have replied to you how the mind can conceive of God who is beyond material conceptions and without material qualities." The answer is: the mind can perceive God by the power of bhakti arising from the mercy of the Lord.
The chapter now concludes. The question that you asked me has been answered here. Instead of ity etat sometimes tad etat is seen. What was the question? How can the mind approach the Lord by śrutis or by bhakti arising from the Lord’s mercy and the nature of the Lord? How can the śrutis approach the Lord? Tat tu samanvayāt: that the Lord iss the sole topic of discussion in the Vedas is confirmed by all scriptures. (Brahma-sūtra 1.1.4) It has already been shown that the Lord is purport of the Vedas. Śabda-brahma paraṁ brahma mamobhe śāśvatī tanū: the scripture and Brahman are my two eternal forms. (SB 6.16.51) Since scripture and the Lord are one, they have the same śakti. Even without the śrutis, there is manifestation of very great śakti in Kṛṣṇa, Svayam Bhagavān: nibhṛta-marun-mano-’kṣa-dṛḍha-yoga-yujo hṛdi yan munaya upāsate tad arayo ’pi yayuḥ smaraṇāt Simply by constantly thinking of him, the enemies of the Lord attained the same Supreme Truth whom sages fixed in yoga worship by controlling their breath, mind and senses. SB 10.87.23
Thus has been described the answer to the question that you asked me (naḥ). How can the mind (manaḥ) or the Vedas (manaḥ) enter into the Lord or describe the Lord? O king! You are qualified to ask the question and receive the answer. He gives respect to himself by using the plural (naḥ).
- Where am I leaving my own questions half-answered?
- What old question could I revisit and finish for myself this week?
Śukadeva closes by exactly mirroring Parīkṣit's original question (verse 1): how can the mind reach an Absolute that has no description, no quality? The chapter is its own answer in shape — it began with the impossibility and ends with a long demonstration that the impossibility yields under bhakti.
My note
Source: vedabase.io