Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.7.30
त्वं हि न: पृच्छतां ब्रह्मन्नात्मन्यानन्दकारणम् ।
ब्रूहि स्पर्शविहीनस्य भवत: केवलात्मन: ॥ ३० ॥
tvaṁ hi naḥ pṛcchatāṁ brahmann
[tvam hi nah prichchataam brahmann]
ātmany ānanda-kāraṇam
[aatmany aananda-kaaranam]
brūhi sparśa-vihīnasya
[broohi sparsha-viheenasya]
bhavataḥ kevalātmanaḥ
[bhavatah kevalaatmanah]
Word-for-word
tvam
—
you
hi
—
certainly
naḥ
—
to us
pṛcchatām
—
who are inquiring
brahman
—
O brāhmaṇa
ātmani
—
within yourself
ānanda
—
of the ecstasy
kāraṇam
—
the cause
brūhi
—
please say
sparśa-vihīnasya
—
who are devoid of any contact with material enjoyment
bhavataḥ
—
of you
kevala-ātmanaḥ
—
who are living completely alone.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
tvaṁ hi naḥ pṛcchatāṁ brahmann
tvam
you
hi
certainly
naḥ
to us
pṛcchatām
who are inquiring
brahman
O brāhmaṇa
ātmany ānanda-kāraṇam
ātmani
within yourself
ānanda
of the ecstasy
kāraṇam
the cause
brūhi sparśa-vihīnasya
brūhi
please say
sparśa-vihīnasya
who are devoid of any contact with material enjoyment
bhavataḥ kevalātmanaḥ
bhavataḥ
of you
kevala-ātmanaḥ
who are living completely alone.
O brāhmaṇa, we see that you are devoid of any contact with material enjoyment and that you are traveling alone, without any companions or family members. Therefore, because we are sincerely inquiring from you, please tell us the cause of the great ecstasy that you are feeling within yourself.
Purport
The word kevalātmanaḥ is significant here. Unless one has practical realization of the Supreme Soul and the individual soul, who reside together within the heart of every living being, it is very difficult to artificially adopt the sannyāsa order of life and travel without the association of wife, children or other family members. The nature of every living being is to make friends with others and to offer his love to a suitable person. One who has realized the Supreme Person is satisfied to always carry the Personality of Godhead within his heart as his constant companion. Unless one has realized that Kṛṣṇa is one’s only true friend and that Kṛṣṇa is within one’s heart, one will remain attached to the temporary relationships of the material world.
— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura
Gauḍīya
Translation
O brāhmaṇa! We see that you are devoid of any contact with material enjoyment and that you are traveling alone. Therefore, because we are sincerely inquiring from you, please tell us the cause of the great ecstasy that you are feeling within yourself.
Where does your bliss come from? He asks because hearing directly from a person is the best way to get the truth. You are devoid of material enjoyment (sparśa) and live alone.
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Inner ānanda is not solitude or stoic detachment — it is the realization that Kṛṣṇa Himself dwells in the heart as one's truest companion.
Practical Applications
- Notice today when you reach for a phone, snack, or person to fill an inner gap, and pause to remember Kṛṣṇa is already seated within.
- Spend ten minutes alone in silence without entertainment, addressing Kṛṣṇa in the heart as a present friend rather than a distant idea.
- Refuse to dress up loneliness as 'spiritual independence' — examine whether your detachment is mature realization or merely emotional withdrawal.
Reflection Questions
- Where in my life am I performing renunciation outwardly while still leaning on material relationships for the ānanda only Kṛṣṇa can give?
- If Kṛṣṇa is truly within my heart as my constant companion, what specific loneliness or craving am I refusing to bring to Him?
For Each Age Group
youth
- When the group chat goes quiet or a post gets no likes and you feel that hollow drop, name it honestly and turn inward to Kṛṣṇa instead of refreshing the feed.
- Try one meal, one walk, or one commute a week with no earbuds and no scrolling — practice being with Kṛṣṇa in the heart rather than with content.
- Refuse the campus story that says you must always be 'with someone' to be okay; quietly test whether sādhana gives a steadier ānanda than the next party or relationship.
householder
- In the middle of family demands today, take two minutes alone to remember that your spouse and children are dear precisely because Kṛṣṇa is the soul within them and within you.
- Notice when you use work, family chatter, or screens to avoid being alone with yourself, and replace one such escape with japa or quiet remembrance.
- Speak to your partner about the difference between depending on each other materially and depending together on Kṛṣṇa as the shared center of the home.
senior
- As friends and family members pass on or move away, deliberately let Kṛṣṇa take the place of constant companion that bodies can no longer fill.
- Mentor a younger devotee or family member by sharing, in plain language, one experience where Kṛṣṇa within the heart proved more reliable than any external relationship.
- Use moments of physical solitude — early mornings, long evenings — not as proof of being forgotten, but as the very setting the verse describes for tasting ātmany ānanda-kāraṇam.
Common Pitfalls
- Mistaking introversion, asceticism, or social avoidance for the kevalātmā realization the verse describes.
- Trying to artificially imitate sannyāsa-like detachment without the inner anchoring in Kṛṣṇa, leading to dryness and eventual collapse.
- Reducing the 'cause of ecstasy' to a subjective mood or self-generated bliss rather than the personal presence of the Supreme within.
Discussion Prompts
- Share a time you felt genuinely content while alone — was it absence of disturbance, or presence of Someone? How can you tell the difference?
- The sages ask the brāhmaṇa why he is happy without companions. What does it reveal about us that we usually ask the opposite question — why are we lonely with so many around?
- Where in modern life do we confuse 'sparśa-vihīna' (free of material contact) with 'sparśa-bhīta' (afraid of contact)? How does Gauḍīya bhakti distinguish them?
Role Play
One student plays a sincere seeker who has just moved to a new city, lives alone, and feels deep loneliness despite a daily sādhana. Another plays a senior devotee who must, drawing only on this verse, help them see the difference between material isolation and the ānanda of recognizing Kṛṣṇa as the friend already within the heart.
Objections & Responses
- This sounds like spiritual bypassing — telling lonely people they don't really need human connection because Kṛṣṇa is inside them.
The verse does not deny our nature to love and befriend — it affirms it. Prabhupāda points out that the living being naturally seeks a suitable companion; the question is only whether we have found the one Companion who never leaves. Healthy human relationships flow more freely, not less, from one who is not desperately extracting ānanda from them. - Plenty of atheists and secular monks live happily alone without believing in any Supreme Person. Why insist on Kṛṣṇa?
Outward composure is not the same as ātmany ānanda-kāraṇam — the cause of ecstasy within. One may suppress desire or distract oneself, but the verse points to a positive, personal source of bliss, not an absence of disturbance. Gauḍīyas hold that any genuine inner joy ultimately traces to the Person already seated in the heart, whether or not He has yet been recognized.
My note
Source: vedabase.io