FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.30.34

अधस्तान्नरलोकस्य यावतीर्यातनादय: । क्रमश: समनुक्रम्य पुनरत्राव्रजेच्छुचि: ॥ ३४ ॥
adhastān nara-lokasya
[adhastaan nara-lokasya]
yāvatīr yātanādayaḥ
[yaavateer yaatanaadayah]
kramaśaḥ samanukramya
[kramashah samanukramya]
punar atrāvrajec chuciḥ
[punar atraavrajech chuchih]
adhastāt — from below nara-lokasya — human birth yāvatīḥ — as many yātanā — punishments ādayaḥ — and so on kramaśaḥ — in a regular order samanukramya — having gone through punaḥ — again atra — here, on this earth āvrajet — he may return śuciḥ — pure.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
adhastān nara-lokasya
adhastāt
from below
nara-lokasya
human birth
yāvatīḥ
as many
yāvatīr yātanādayaḥ
yātanā
punishments
ādayaḥ
and so on
kramaśaḥ samanukramya
kramaśaḥ
in a regular order
samanukramya
having gone through
punar atrāvrajec chuciḥ
punaḥ
again
atra
here, on this earth
āvrajet
he may return
śuciḥ
pure.
Having gone through all the miserable, hellish conditions and having passed in a regular order through the lowest forms of animal life prior to human birth, and having thus been purged of his sins, one is reborn again as a human being on this earth.

Just as a prisoner, who has undergone troublesome prison life, is set free again, the person who has always engaged in impious and mischievous activities is put into hellish conditions, and when he has undergone different hellish lives, namely those of lower animals like cats, dogs and hogs, by the gradual process of evolution he again comes back as a human being. In Bhagavad-gītā it is stated that even though a person engaged in the practice of the yoga system may not finish perfectly and may fall down for some reason or other, his next life as a human being is guaranteed. It is stated that such a person, who has fallen from the path of yoga practice, is given a chance in his next life to take birth in a very rich family or in a very pious family. It is interpreted that “rich family” refers to a big mercantile family because generally people who engage in trades and mercantile business are very rich. One who engaged in the process of self-realization, or connecting with the Supreme Absolute Truth, but fell short is allowed to take birth in such a rich family, or in the family of pious brāhmaṇas; either way, he is guaranteed to appear in human society in his next life. It can be concluded that if someone is not willing to enter into hellish life, as in Tāmisra or Andha-tāmisra, then he must take to the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which is the first-class yoga system, because even if one is unable to attain complete Kṛṣṇa consciousness in this life, he is guaranteed at least to take his next birth in a human family. He cannot be sent into a hellish condition. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the purest life, and it protects all human beings from gliding down to hell to take birth in a family of dogs or hogs.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Third Canto, Thirtieth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled “Description by Lord Kapila of Adverse Fruitive Activities.”

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
After successively going through many births below the human form and becoming purified, he returns to this earth as a human again. Yāvatīḥ yātanā (so many punishments) means that after attaining births as dog and pig gradually and experiencing those lives, he becomes purified of his sin. Then he takes birth again on earth as a human. Thus ends the commentary on Thirtieth Chapter of the Third Canto of the Bhāgavatam for the pleasure of the devotees, in accordance with the previous ācāryas. Chapter Thirty-one Entering the Human Body
The verse distinguishes book-learning from realization. Realization shows up as changed behaviour, not just changed vocabulary. The verse keeps returning to self-realization.
Reflection Questions
  • What truth do you already 'know' that has not yet changed how you live?
  • Where could service do the teaching that more study cannot?
📝 My note

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