FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.7.16

सोऽहं ममाहमिति मूढमतिर्विगाढ- स्त्वन्मायया विरचितात्मनि सानुबन्धे । तत्त्वञ्जसा निगदितं भवता यथाहं संसाधयामि भगवन्ननुशाधि भृत्यम् ॥ १६ ॥
so ’haṁ mamāham iti mūḍha-matir vigāḍhas
[so ’ham mamaaham iti moodha-matir vigaadhas]
tvan-māyayā viracitātmani sānubandhe
[tvan-maayayaa virachitaatmani saanubandhe]
tat tv añjasā nigaditaṁ bhavatā yathāhaṁ
[tat tv anjasaa nigaditam bhavataa yathaaham]
saṁsādhayāmi bhagavann anuśādhi bhṛtyam
[samsaadhayaami bhagavann anushaadhi bhrityam]
Word-for-word
saḥ — he aham — I mama aham — the false concept of “I” and “mine” iti — thus mūḍha — most foolish matiḥ — consciousness vigāḍhaḥ — merged tvat-māyayā — by Your illusory potency viracita — manufactured ātmani — in the body sa-anubandhe — along with bodily relations tat — therefore tu — indeed añjasā — easily nigaditam — that instructed bhavatā — by You yathā — the process by which aham — I saṁsādhayāmi — may execute bhagavan — My dear Lord anuśādhi — teach bhṛtyam — Your servant.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
so ’haṁ mamāham iti mūḍha-matir vigāḍhas
tvan-māyayā viracitātmani sānubandhe
saḥ
he
tat tv añjasā nigaditaṁ bhavatā yathāhaṁ
aham
I
mama aham
the false concept of “I” and “mine”
iti
thus
mūḍha
most foolish
matiḥ
consciousness
vigāḍhaḥ
merged
tvat-māyayā
by Your illusory potency
viracita
manufactured
ātmani
in the body
saṁsādhayāmi bhagavann anuśādhi bhṛtyam
sa-anubandhe
along with bodily relations
tat
therefore
tu
indeed
añjasā
easily
nigaditam
that instructed
bhavatā
by You
yathā
the process by which
aham
I
saṁsādhayāmi
may execute
bhagavan
My dear Lord
anuśādhi
teach
bhṛtyam
Your servant.
O my Lord, I myself am most foolish because my consciousness is merged in the material body and bodily relations, which are all manufactured by Your illusory energy. Thus I am thinking, “I am this body, and all of these relatives are mine.” Therefore, my Lord, please instruct Your poor servant. Please tell me how I can very easily carry out Your instructions.
Purport

It is very difficult to give up false identification with the material body, and thus we remain attached to our so-called bodily relations such as wife, children, friends, and so on. Bodily attachment causes intense pain within the heart, and we are stunned by lamentation and hankering. Śrī Uddhava, a pure devotee of the Lord, here speaks like an ordinary person showing how to pray to the Personality of Godhead. We practically see that many sinful persons enter the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and after preliminary purification become most repentant for their previous illicit activities. They are shocked when they realize how they gave up the personal association of God to pursue the useless forms created by māyā; therefore they wholeheartedly pray to the spiritual master and Lord Kṛṣṇa to be engaged eternally in transcendental devotional service. Such a repentant, eager mentality is most auspicious for spiritual advancement. The Lord certainly answers the prayers of a repentant devotee desperate to escape the clutches of illusion.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
O Lord! A fool, I am deeply absorbed in the concept of I and mine related to the body and its corollaries produced by your māyā. Please instruct me, your servant, so that I can easily accomplish the jñāna you have just explained. I am absorbed in material enjoyment because I am deeply involved with sons and wife related to my body created by your māyā. I identify with the blind well of the body. Teach me how to give up that absorption and deliver me. Teach me first the actions and then teach about jñāna.
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Uddhava confesses that bodily "I and mine" thinking is māyā's net, and begs Kṛṣṇa to instruct him simply enough that he can actually carry it out.
Practical Applications
  • Notice each time today the phrase "mine" arises about body, family, or status, and silently re-label it as Kṛṣṇa's property held in trust.
  • Before any decision, pray in Uddhava's tone: "I am foolish, please instruct Your servant," and only then act on the next obvious duty.
  • Refuse the modern story that you are your résumé and relationships; speak of yourself today as an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa first, role-holder second.
Reflection Questions
  • Where am I still calling "mine" something that Kṛṣṇa's māyā merely loaned to this body, and what would change in my conduct if I admitted it?
  • Am I willing, like Uddhava, to call myself foolish in front of the Lord and ask for instruction I can actually execute, rather than instruction that flatters me?
For Each Age Group
youth
  • When your phone shows likes, grades, or rejections, pause and notice the thought "this is me" — then re-say internally, "this is just the body's situation, I am Kṛṣṇa's servant."
  • Pick one area where you secretly feel foolish — a class, a friendship, a habit — and bring it honestly to Kṛṣṇa or a trusted senior devotee, asking for one doable instruction rather than hiding it.
  • Refuse the campus pressure to brand yourself by family, college, or relationship status; in at least one conversation this week, let your identity as a servant of Kṛṣṇa quietly come first.
householder
  • In the next family or money decision, before reacting, silently pray Uddhava's words and ask what a servant of Kṛṣṇa, not an owner, would do here.
  • Speak with your spouse this week about one area where "mine" — my career, my kids' achievements, my home — has been driving you, and renegotiate it as a shared service to Kṛṣṇa.
  • Choose one concrete, easily executable instruction from guru and śāstra (a fixed chanting time, an offering before meals, a weekly association) and lock it into the household schedule as non-negotiable.
senior
  • As you watch the body age, repeat Uddhava's confession daily and let each new limitation loosen, not tighten, your grip on "I and mine."
  • Review your will, possessions, and remaining responsibilities as a steward returning Kṛṣṇa's property, and make at least one concrete handover this season to reduce attachment.
  • When a younger family member or seeker approaches in confusion, refuse the role of proprietor-patriarch and instead model Uddhava's mood: confess your own dependence on Kṛṣṇa and point them to instruction they can actually carry out.
Common Pitfalls
  • Confessing foolishness verbally while quietly continuing to manage life as the proprietor of body, spouse, and children.
  • Treating "all relations are māyā" as license to neglect dependents, instead of as a call to serve them as souls entrusted by Kṛṣṇa.
  • Waiting for an exotic revelation while ignoring the simple, already-given instructions of guru, śāstra, and sādhus that one is competent to follow today.
Discussion Prompts
  • Share one specific relationship in which you most strongly feel "this is mine" — is that bond an obstacle, a service, or both, and how do you tell?
  • Uddhava asks for instruction he can easily carry out. What instruction have you already received that you keep postponing because it feels too small or too hard?
  • What is the difference, in your own life, between healthy responsibility for family and the ahaṅkāra of ownership Uddhava is repenting of here?
Role Play

One student plays a sincere newcomer who has just realized that years of identifying with career and family were rooted in bodily ego; they approach a second student, playing a senior devotee, and ask, in Uddhava's mood, for one simple instruction they can begin executing tomorrow morning. The senior devotee must respond without abstractions, giving a concrete sādhana the newcomer can actually do, while honoring their existing obligations.

Objections & Responses
  • Calling love for my spouse and children an illusion manufactured by māyā sounds cold and even cruel; surely these bonds are the best part of being human.
    Uddhava is not denying that the relationships exist or that they involve real feeling; he is naming the false conviction that these bodies are the persons and that they belong to him. When you see your spouse and children as eternal souls placed in your care by Kṛṣṇa, your affection deepens rather than dies, because it is no longer doomed to end at the next bodily transition.
  • Why should a self-respecting modern adult stand before any God and call himself foolish and a servant? That seems like exactly the religious self-abasement we have outgrown.
    Uddhava is one of Kṛṣṇa's most exalted associates, and yet he speaks this way — not from low self-esteem but from accurate self-knowledge in the presence of the Supreme Person. To insist on being one's own master while being tossed by birth, disease, old age, and death is the real indignity; admitting servanthood to Kṛṣṇa is the moment a person first stands at full height.
📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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