SB 11.10.19 — FolioCorpus

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.10.19

यदि प्राप्तिं विघातं च जानन्ति सुखदु:खयो: । तेऽप्यद्धा न विदुर्योगं मृत्युर्न प्रभवेद् यथा ॥ १९ ॥

yadi prāptiṁ vighātaṁ ca

[yadi praaptim vighaatam cha]

jānanti sukha-duḥkhayoḥ

[jaananti sukha-duhkhayoh]

te ’py addhā na vidur yogaṁ

[te ’py addhaa na vidur yogam]

mṛtyur na prabhaved yathā

[mrityur na prabhaved yathaa]

Word-for-word

yadi — if prāptim — achievement vighātam — removal ca — also jānanti — they know sukha — of happiness duḥkhayoḥ — and of distress te — they api — still addhā — directly na — not viduḥ — do know yogam — the process mṛtyuḥ — death na — not prabhavet — would exert its power yathā — by which.

Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)

yadi prāptiṁ vighātaṁ ca

yadi

prāptim

achievement

vighātam

removal

also

jānanti sukha-duḥkhayoḥ

jānanti

they know

sukha

of happiness

duḥkhayoḥ

and of distress

te ’py addhā na vidur yogaṁ

they

mṛtyur na prabhaved yathā

api

still

addhā

directly

not

viduḥ

do know

yogam

the process

mṛtyuḥ

death

not

prabhavet

would exert its power

yathā

by which.

Even if people know how to achieve happiness and avoid unhappiness, they still do not know the process by which death will not be able to exert its power over them.

Purport

If the so-called intelligent materialists know the means of achieving happiness and destroying unhappiness, then they should deliver people from inevitable death. The scientists are busily working to solve this problem, but since they have completely failed, it is understood that they are not actually intelligent and that they do not know the means of achieving happiness and eliminating misery. It is most foolish to think that one can be happy with an ax hanging over one’s neck. Lord Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā, mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham: “I Myself come before you as death and take everything away.” We should not blindly ignore the disaster of material life, but should instead accept the Lord’s causeless mercy, which He so magnanimously offers in His incarnation as Caitanya Mahāprabhu. We should surrender to the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya, who offers the real means for achieving unqualified happiness: the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. This is the Lord’s desire, and it is in our own self-interest to take up this process.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda

Gauḍīya Ācāryas

Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya

Translation

Even if people know how to achieve happiness and avoid unhappiness, they still do not know the process by which death can be averted. Even if one has knowledge, one cannot be successful. They do not know the proper process by which death cannot exert its control.

Personal Guidance

Even those skilled at chasing pleasure and dodging pain remain helpless before death — only surrender to Kṛṣṇa's name conquers it.

Practical Applications

Name one comfort-strategy you rely on today and admit honestly that it cannot postpone your death by a single hour.
Chant a fixed number of rounds of the holy names today as the actual yoga that addresses mortality, not as a pious extra.
Refuse to call yourself "intelligent" for managing happiness and misery while leaving the question of death untouched.

Reflection Questions

Where am I behaving like the "intelligent materialist" — optimizing comfort while the ax of death still hangs over my neck?
What would change in my schedule today if I took seriously that no skill of mine can prevent Kṛṣṇa from coming as death?

For Each Age Group

youth

Notice how much of your scrolling, gaming, and friend-group strategy is just sukha-duḥkha management, and ask what any of it does about the fact that you will die.
Set a small, non-negotiable chanting count before classes or work each morning, so the one process that addresses death is not the thing that gets dropped when you are busy.
When peers mock religion as a crutch for the weak, refuse to argue — quietly ask them what their plan is for death, and let the silence do the teaching.

householder

When making the next big family decision — house, school, job — explicitly include the question "does this arrangement touch our mortality, or only our comfort?" before deciding.
Chant your rounds before checking email or news, so the day begins with the work death cannot undo rather than the work death will erase.
Speak honestly with your spouse and older children about death — not as a scare, but as the reason the family chants and hears together, so they see sādhana as load-bearing, not decorative.

senior

Each morning, sit with the plain fact that the ax is closer now than it has ever been, and let that sobriety drive you to the holy name rather than to distraction or denial.
Loosen one more grip today — a possession, a grievance, a plan for the future — and offer that released attention to extra rounds of chanting.
Mentor a younger person not with worldly advice about managing happiness and misery, but by transmitting, in your own words, why you now chant the names of Kṛṣṇa.

Common Pitfalls

Treating sādhana as one more happiness-technique alongside diet and exercise, instead of the one process that addresses death.
Dismissing the verse as anti-science rather than hearing its precise point: science cannot deliver anyone from dying.
Using mortality-talk to fuel anxiety or fatalism instead of turning to the holy name as the offered remedy.

Discussion Prompts

Share one area of your life where you are clearly arranging happiness and avoiding pain — and ask the group whether that arrangement touches the problem of death at all.
Where do you secretly still believe medicine, money, or technology will buy you more time, and how does that belief shape your day?
What does it mean, practically, to accept the chanting of the holy names as the actual means of conquering death rather than a devotional sentiment?

Role Play

A close friend, a successful doctor, tells you over dinner that with enough research humanity will eventually defeat aging and death, and that bhakti is an emotional crutch for those who cannot face this scientifically. Respond as a student of this verse — without arguing him down, help him see what his own framework cannot answer.

Objections & Responses

Science has already doubled human lifespan; given enough time it will solve death too, so this verse is outdated.
Doubling a lifespan is still arranging the deck chairs — the ax has not been removed, only delayed. The verse does not deny progress in comfort; it points out that not one materialist, however intelligent, has stopped a single death. Until that is solved, the question the verse raises is still open, and Kṛṣṇa's answer through the holy name is still the only one on offer.
Focusing on death is morbid; a healthy spiritual life should emphasize joy and presence, not mortality.
The verse is not morbid; it is sober. Pretending the ax is not there does not make us joyful, only distracted. Real ānanda in the Gauḍīya line begins precisely where this honest admission begins — that I cannot save myself from death, and Kṛṣṇa's name can. The chanting that follows is not gloom; it is the only joy that death cannot take.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io