Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.5.18
हित्वात्ममायारचिता गृहापत्यसुहृत्स्त्रिय: ।
तमो विशन्त्यनिच्छन्तो वासुदेवपराङ्मुखा: ॥ १८ ॥
hitvātma-māyā-racitā
[hitvaatma-maayaa-rachitaa]
gṛhāpatya-suhṛt-striyaḥ
[grihaapatya-suhrit-striyah]
tamo viśanty anicchanto
[tamo vishanty anichchanto]
vāsudeva-parāṅ-mukhāḥ
[vaasudeva-paraan-mukhaah]
Word-for-word
hitvā
—
giving up
ātma-māyā
—
by the illusory energy of the Supreme Soul
racitāḥ
—
manufactured
gṛha
—
homes
apatya
—
children
suhṛt
—
friends
striyaḥ
—
wives
tamaḥ
—
into darkness
viśanti
—
they enter
anicchantaḥ
—
without desiring
vasudeva-parāk-mukhāḥ
—
those who have turned away from Lord Vāsudeva.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
hitvātma-māyā-racitā
hitvā
giving up
ātma-māyā
by the illusory energy of the Supreme Soul
racitāḥ
manufactured
gṛhāpatya-suhṛt-striyaḥ
gṛha
homes
apatya
children
suhṛt
friends
striyaḥ
wives
tamo viśanty anicchanto
tamaḥ
into darkness
viśanti
they enter
anicchantaḥ
without desiring
vāsudeva-parāṅ-mukhāḥ
vasudeva-parāk-mukhāḥ
those who have turned away from Lord Vāsudeva.
Those who have turned away from the Supreme Lord, Vāsudeva, being under the spell of the Lord’s illusory energy, are eventually forced to give up their so-called homes, children, friends, wives and lovers, which were all created by the illusory potency of the Supreme Lord, and enter against their will into the darkest regions of the universe.
Purport
The living entity turns his back on the Supreme Personality of Godhead and tries instead to enjoy temporary sense gratification. The result is simply anxiety as the conditioned soul struggles to maintain his temporary wife, children, friends, home, nation, etc. Finally all of these things are taken away, and the bewildered soul, in great frustration, sometimes tries to take shelter of an impersonal concept of God and liberation. Thus the conditioned soul is always in ignorance, either pursuing illusory sense gratification or trying to avoid sense gratification by merging into the impersonal aspect of the Lord, called Brahman. But the actual position of the living entity is to serve the Supreme Person, who is his master. And unless one gives up one’s inimical feelings toward the Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is no question of peace or happiness.
kṛṣṇa-bhakta — niṣkāma, ataeva ‘śānta’ bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī — sakali ‘aśānta’
(Cc. Madhya 19.149)
— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura
Gauḍīya
Translation
Giving up their houses, children, friends and women made of the Lord’s māyā, and opposing the Lord, they enter darkness though they do not want this.
The śruti says:
asuryā nāma te lokā andhena tamasā vṛtāḥ |
tāṁs te pretyābhigacchanti ye ke cātma-hano janāḥ ||
Those who do not establish a relation to Paramātmā and enjoy the world are
called killers of the soul. They go to demonic worlds covered by darkness after giving up this body. Isopaniṣad 3
After giving up house, children, friends and wives, they fall to hell.
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Turning away from Vāsudeva, we cling to home, spouse, children, and friends spun by māyā — all are stripped away, and the unwilling soul falls into darkness.
Practical Applications
- Name one relationship or possession you secretly treat as ultimate shelter, and today re-offer it to Kṛṣṇa as His arrangement, not yours.
- Refuse the inner voice that says, "If I lose this person or this home, I am finished" — replace it with a verse-anchored conviction that Vāsudeva alone is your refuge.
- Spend ten minutes today reading or chanting about Vāsudeva specifically, so that your back is turned toward māyā and your face toward Him.
Reflection Questions
- Which of my "so-called" homes, friendships, or family bonds am I still trusting to outlast me, and what does that trust cost my relationship with Vāsudeva?
- Where in my life am I already being forced — through loss, aging, or change — to give up what māyā built, and am I going willingly toward Kṛṣṇa or unwillingly into darkness?
For Each Age Group
youth
- Notice when a friend group, a relationship, or a follower count starts feeling like your real shelter, and that evening explicitly hand it back to Kṛṣṇa before sleep.
- Refuse the campus story that says your worth depends on who loves you or who replies to you — read this verse before opening social media tomorrow.
- Pick one decision this week (a class, a relationship, a party) and ask plainly, "Is this turning my face toward Vāsudeva or away from Him?" and act accordingly.
householder
- At dinner tonight, silently acknowledge that your spouse and children belong to Kṛṣṇa first; serve them with that conviction instead of as your private project.
- Audit one financial or career choice this week that is driven by fear of losing home or status, and re-decide it as a servant of Vāsudeva rather than as the proprietor.
- Build one fixed daily moment — even ten minutes — where the family turns together toward Kṛṣṇa, so the home itself stops being a substitute for Him and becomes a doorway to Him.
senior
- Each time the body, memory, or a relationship visibly weakens, say inwardly, "Māyā is taking back what she built; let me go willingly toward Vāsudeva," and feel the difference from resentment.
- Choose one younger person this month and speak honestly about what you trusted that has already been stripped away, so they hear the verse through your life, not just from a book.
- Begin loosening one specific attachment — a possession, a role, an expectation of your children — as a deliberate practice of facing Kṛṣṇa rather than being forced later.
Common Pitfalls
- Reading this verse as a license to neglect or abandon spouse and children, instead of as a call to stop treating them as the soul's final shelter.
- Substituting an impersonal "letting go" or merging into Brahman for the personal surrender to Vāsudeva that the verse demands.
- Assuming "turning away from Vāsudeva" applies only to atheists, while quietly building one's own life around career, reputation, and family as if Kṛṣṇa were optional.
Discussion Prompts
- Share one concrete attachment — a person, role, or possession — that you suspect you are using as a substitute for Vāsudeva, and let the group press you on whether that is fair.
- The verse says these relationships are "created by the illusory potency." Does that mean they are unreal, or real-but-temporary? Disagree openly before settling on an answer.
- Prabhupāda warns that frustrated materialists often jump to impersonal liberation. Where do you see that move happening in your own life or in modern spirituality around you?
Role Play
One student plays a middle-aged professional who has just lost a parent, a job, and a long friendship in the same year and is considering "giving it all up" to seek impersonal peace. Another student, as a Gauḍīya friend, must show — using this verse — why such loss is not a cue to merge into Brahman but to turn the face back toward Vāsudeva personally.
Objections & Responses
- This verse sounds anti-family — it almost punishes people for loving their spouse and children.
The verse does not condemn loving them; it condemns turning away from Vāsudeva while clinging to them as ultimate shelter. A Gauḍīya householder serves spouse and children as Kṛṣṇa's, knowing they were given by Him and will return to Him, and so love deepens rather than dies. - Talk of "darkest regions of the universe" feels like fear-mongering; surely a loving God would not force unwilling souls into darkness.
Kṛṣṇa does not push anyone — He honors our choice. When we insist on enjoying separately from Him, we ourselves walk into the conditions that match that desire; the "darkness" is the natural shape of a consciousness that has refused its own master, and the same Lord stands ready the moment we turn back.
My note
Source: vedabase.io