Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.9.2
सामिषं कुररं जघ्नुर्बलिनोऽन्ये निरामिषा: ।
तदामिषं परित्यज्य स सुखं समविन्दत ॥ २ ॥
sāmiṣaṁ kuraraṁ jaghnur
[saamisham kuraram jaghnur]
balino ’nye nirāmiṣāḥ
[balino ’nye niraamishaah]
tadāmiṣaṁ parityajya
[tadaamisham parityajya]
sa sukhaṁ samavindata
[sa sukham samavindata]
Word-for-word
sa-āmiṣam
—
having meat
kuraram
—
a large hawk
jaghnuḥ
—
they attacked
balinaḥ
—
very strong
anye
—
others
nirāmiṣāḥ
—
without meat
tadā
—
at that time
āmiṣam
—
the meat
parityajya
—
giving up
saḥ
—
he
sukham
—
happiness
samavindata
—
achieved.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
sāmiṣaṁ kuraraṁ jaghnur
sa-āmiṣam
having meat
kuraram
a large hawk
jaghnuḥ
they attacked
balino ’nye nirāmiṣāḥ
balinaḥ
very strong
anye
others
nirāmiṣāḥ
without meat
tadāmiṣaṁ parityajya
tadā
at that time
āmiṣam
the meat
parityajya
giving up
sa sukhaṁ samavindata
saḥ
he
sukham
happiness
samavindata
achieved.
Once a group of large hawks who were unable to find any prey attacked another, weaker hawk who was holding some meat. At that time, being in danger of his life, the hawk gave up his meat and experienced actual happiness.
Purport
Incited by the modes of nature, birds become violent and kill other birds to eat them or to steal meat captured by them. Hawks, vultures and eagles are in this category. However, one should give up the envious propensity to commit violence against others and should take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whereby one sees every living entity as equal to oneself. On this platform of actual happiness one does not envy anyone and thus sees no one as his enemy.
— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura
Gauḍīya
Translation
Once a group of stronger hawks who were unable to find any prey attacked another, weaker hawk that was holding some meat. At that time, being in danger of his life, the hawk gave up his meat and experienced happiness.
The kurara was holding some meat.
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
What you clutch becomes the reason you are attacked; release the "meat" and you taste the real happiness the soul was starving for.
Practical Applications
- Name one possession, role, or grievance you are gripping today and consciously let it go before someone tears it from you.
- Notice the next moment you feel "hunted" by circumstances, and ask what you are still holding that invited the chase.
- Refuse to envy a peer's success this week; instead, offer them a genuine word of appreciation and watch the inner relief that follows.
Reflection Questions
- What "meat" am I still defending in my life that is, in truth, the very thing endangering my peace?
- Where have I mistaken the temporary calm of getting my way for the actual happiness Kṛṣṇa wants me to taste?
For Each Age Group
youth
- Drop one social-media metric you have been quietly defending — followers, streaks, a curated image — and notice what eases in your chest within a day.
- When a classmate outperforms you on a result, refuse the inward bite of envy and instead ask them, sincerely, how they prepared.
- Identify one friendship you are clinging to out of fear of being alone, and stop bargaining for their attention this week.
householder
- Name the one financial cushion, title, or domestic arrangement you most fear losing, and write down what your life would still contain if it were gone.
- When a colleague or relative tries to take credit that was yours, release it once this week without protest and observe your own inner state afterward.
- Tell your spouse or child today one thing you have been gripping in the family — a decision, a grudge, a control — and consciously hand it over.
senior
- Choose one possession, property, or role you have been postponing handing on, and begin the transfer this month rather than waiting for it to be wrested away.
- When younger people contradict or sideline you, practise releasing the "meat" of being needed, and let the quiet that follows teach you what remains.
- Mentor someone this week by giving away an insight or contact you would normally have kept for leverage, and feel the lightness Prabhupāda points to.
Common Pitfalls
- Treating outward renunciation of an object as the point, while the inward envy and grasping remain untouched.
- Waiting to be "attacked" before letting go, instead of voluntarily releasing what one knows is binding the heart.
- Confusing the relief of dropping a burden with bhakti itself, and stopping there instead of using the freedom to serve Kṛṣṇa.
Discussion Prompts
- Share one "meat" you have surrendered in the past — was the happiness that followed material relief or something deeper, and how do you tell the difference?
- Where in our community do we quietly admire the "strong hawks" — the aggressive achievers — even while preaching non-envy?
- Is it cowardice or wisdom to release something the moment opposition appears, and how would a devotee discriminate between the two?
Role Play
A devotee has built a small online platform over five years; a larger, more aggressive group begins copying the content and drawing the audience away. One student plays the devotee, another a well-meaning friend urging legal war, a third a senior Vaiṣṇava counseling the lesson of this verse. Work the conversation until the devotee can articulate, in their own words, what the "meat" is and what releasing it would concretely look like tomorrow morning.
Objections & Responses
- This sounds like surrendering to bullies — if the weak hawk just gives up his meat every time, the strong hawks win and injustice is rewarded.
The verse is not a social policy; it is a diagnosis of where actual happiness lives. The weak hawk did not lose — he discovered that the meat was never the source of his satisfaction; envy and grasping were the source of his suffering. A devotee may still act justly in the world, but he is no longer internally hostage to what others might seize. - I am not envious or violent like a hawk — this verse is about extreme cases, not ordinary people like me.
Prabhupāda's purport says the violence is incited by the modes of nature, and those same modes move through every conditioned heart. The "meat" need not be flesh — it is any object the mind defends as "mine." Examine the last argument you had, and you will likely find a hawk and a piece of meat in it.
My note
Source: vedabase.io