SB 11.5.9 — FolioCorpus

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.5.9

श्रिया विभूत्याभिजनेन विद्यया त्यागेन रूपेण बलेन कर्मणा । जातस्मयेनान्धधिय: सहेश्वरान् सतोऽवमन्यन्ति हरिप्रियान् खला: ॥ ९ ॥

śriyā vibhūtyābhijanena vidyayā

[shriyaa vibhootyaabhijanena vidyayaa]

tyāgena rūpeṇa balena karmaṇā

[tyaagena roopena balena karmanaa]

jāta-smayenāndha-dhiyaḥ saheśvarān

[jaata-smayenaandha-dhiyah saheshvaraan]

sato ’vamanyanti hari-priyān khalāḥ

[sato ’vamanyanti hari-priyaan khalaah]

Word-for-word

śriyā — by their opulence (wealth, etc.) vibhūtyā — special abilities abhijanena — aristocratic heritage vidyayā — education tyāgena — renunciation rūpeṇa — beauty balena — strength karmaṇā — performance of Vedic rituals jāta — which is born smayena — by such pride andha — blinded dhiyaḥ — whose intelligence saha-īśvarān — along with the Supreme Lord Himself sataḥ — the saintly devotees avamanyanti — they disrespect hari-priyān — who are very dear to Lord Hari khalāḥ — cruel persons.

Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)

śriyā vibhūtyābhijanena vidyayā

śriyā

by their opulence (wealth, etc.)

vibhūtyā

special abilities

abhijanena

aristocratic heritage

vidyayā

education

tyāgena rūpeṇa balena karmaṇā

tyāgena

renunciation

rūpeṇa

beauty

balena

strength

karmaṇā

performance of Vedic rituals

jāta-smayenāndha-dhiyaḥ saheśvarān

jāta

which is born

smayena

by such pride

andha

blinded

dhiyaḥ

whose intelligence

saha-īśvarān

along with the Supreme Lord Himself

sato ’vamanyanti hari-priyān khalāḥ

sataḥ

the saintly devotees

avamanyanti

they disrespect

hari-priyān

who are very dear to Lord Hari

khalāḥ

cruel persons.

The intelligence of cruel-minded persons is blinded by false pride based on great wealth, opulence, prestigious family connections, education, renunciation, personal beauty, physical strength and successful performance of Vedic rituals. Being intoxicated with this false pride, such cruel persons blaspheme the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His devotees.

Purport

The attractive qualities exhibited by the conditioned soul originally belong to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the reservoir of all attractive qualities. The moonshine is actually the reflected effulgence of the sun. Similarly, the living entity reflects for a brief time a particular quantity of the Lord’s opulences. Not knowing this, atheistic persons become intoxicated by such reflected opulences, and thus blinded, they condemn themselves more and more by criticizing the Lord and His devotees. They are unable to understand how they have become abominable, and it is difficult to prevent them from going to hell.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda

Gauḍīya Ācāryas

Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya

Translation

With pride in wealth, power, good birth, education, renunciation, beauty, strength, and performance of rituals, they become foolish and cruel, and disrespect the devotees along with the Lord. Śriyā means “by wealth.” Vibhūtyā means “by power.” They disrespect the devotees (sataḥ).

Personal Guidance

Pride in wealth, birth, learning, renunciation, beauty, strength, or ritual blinds the cruel-hearted into blaspheming Kṛṣṇa and His devotees.

Practical Applications

Name the one opulence — money, degree, family name, looks, fitness, even your sādhana — you most quietly congratulate yourself for, and offer it back to Kṛṣṇa before sleeping tonight.
Notice the next time you feel an urge to belittle a devotee or dismiss Kṛṣṇa's supremacy, and trace it back to which puffed-up asset is doing the talking.
Refuse to join any conversation today that mocks the Lord or His devotees, even subtly, even when the mockers are educated or successful.

Reflection Questions

Which of the eight intoxications listed in this verse — wealth, opulence, family, education, renunciation, beauty, strength, ritual — most reliably blinds my intelligence, and whom have I looked down upon because of it?
When I criticize a devotee's shortcomings, am I serving truth, or is jāta-smaya using my tongue to protect my own self-image?

For Each Age Group

youth

When your grades, looks, follower count, or college brand make you feel a half-second of superiority over a classmate, name it as jāta-smaya and offer the credit to Kṛṣṇa before you next open your phone.
Refuse to laugh along when friends mock a devotee, a temple-goer, or 'religious' classmates as backward — even silence is participation in blasphemy.
Pick the peer you secretly look down on for being 'simple' or 'uncool,' and have one real conversation with them this week as an equal soul.

householder

Audit the last week of dinner-table and WhatsApp talk: where did your earnings, your child's school, your in-laws' status, or your own renunciations become weapons against someone else's choices?
When a relative dismisses your sādhana or your guru as impractical, do not retaliate by mocking their materialism — protect your bhakti without becoming the khala the verse describes.
Before any major family decision about money, career, or your children's path, ask aloud whether the choice is being driven by Kṛṣṇa's service or by the eight intoxications listed in this verse.

senior

At this stage, the subtlest pride is in long years of sādhana, scriptural study, or austerity — watch how often your stories quietly position you above younger or newer devotees.
When you offer guidance, lead with how Kṛṣṇa has carried you despite your faults, not with a résumé of your renunciations and accomplishments.
Use the time you have left to publicly honor at least one devotee whom you have, in the past, privately judged as lesser in learning, birth, or austerity.

Common Pitfalls

Treating the verse as a critique of other rich, educated, or beautiful people while exempting one's own subtler pride in renunciation or sādhana.
Mistaking the borrowed reflection of Kṛṣṇa's opulence within oneself for one's own achievement, and then resenting devotees who do not validate it.
Confusing legitimate discernment of a devotee's behavior with the cruelty of blasphemy that this verse condemns.

Discussion Prompts

Of the eight intoxicants Nārada lists, which is most socially rewarded in your circle, and how does that reward shape who you respect and who you dismiss?
Share a moment when you caught yourself looking down on a sincere devotee because they lacked some worldly opulence you possessed — what was actually happening in you?
Where is the line between honest critique of a devotee's conduct and the blasphemy this verse calls khala behavior? Disagree openly.

Role Play

A successful, well-read colleague at a dinner mocks your guru as 'unsophisticated' and laughs at devotees as 'simple-minded.' Another guest, newer to bhakti, looks to you. Stage the next two minutes of conversation — what you say, what you refuse to say, and how you leave the table.

Objections & Responses

Calling people 'cruel-minded' for being proud of real achievements sounds harsh and anti-meritocratic — shouldn't accomplishment be celebrated?
The verse does not condemn the wealth, learning, or beauty themselves; it condemns the blindness of forgetting that every such asset is a momentary reflection of Kṛṣṇa's opulence, like moonlight borrowed from the sun. Celebrate the gift, refuse the intoxication; the moment that pride starts blaspheming the Lord and His devotees, it has already turned cruel, whatever the achievement.
I am not blaspheming anyone — I just have honest doubts about Kṛṣṇa and some opinions about devotees I have met. Why does this verse implicate me?
Honest inquiry under a qualified devotee is welcomed in our line; what the verse names is the specific posture of dismissing the Lord and His servants from a seat of self-congratulation. Test yourself: when you voice those opinions, are you seeking truth, or quietly enjoying the feeling of being smarter, freer, or more refined than they are? That subtle relish is the jāta-smaya the verse is warning you about.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io