FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.31.1

श्रीभगवानुवाच कर्मणा दैवनेत्रेण जन्तुर्देहोपपत्तये । स्त्रिया: प्रविष्ट उदरं पुंसो रेत:कणाश्रय: ॥ १ ॥
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
[shree-bhagavaan uvaacha]
karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa
[karmanaa daiva-netrena]
jantur dehopapattaye
[jantur dehopapattaye]
striyāḥ praviṣṭa udaraṁ
[striyaah pravishta udaram]
puṁso retaḥ-kaṇāśrayaḥ
[pumso retah-kanaashrayah]
śrī-bhagavān uvāca — the Supreme Personality of Godhead said karmaṇā — by the result of work daiva-netreṇa — under the supervision of the Lord jantuḥ — the living entity deha — a body upapattaye — for obtaining striyāḥ — of a woman praviṣṭaḥ — enters udaram — the womb puṁsaḥ — of a man retaḥ — of semen kaṇa — a particle āśrayaḥ — dwelling in.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
the Supreme Personality of Godhead said
karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa
karmaṇā
by the result of work
daiva-netreṇa
under the supervision of the Lord
jantur dehopapattaye
jantuḥ
the living entity
deha
a body
upapattaye
for obtaining
striyāḥ praviṣṭa udaraṁ
striyāḥ
of a woman
praviṣṭaḥ
enters
udaram
the womb
puṁso retaḥ-kaṇāśrayaḥ
puṁsaḥ
of a man
retaḥ
of semen
kaṇa
a particle
āśrayaḥ
dwelling in.
The Personality of Godhead said: Under the supervision of the Supreme Lord and according to the result of his work, the living entity, the soul, is made to enter into the womb of a woman through the particle of male semen to assume a particular type of body.

As stated in the last chapter, after suffering different kinds of hellish conditions, a man comes again to the human form of body. The same topic is continued in this chapter. In order to give a particular type of human form to a person who has already suffered hellish life, the soul is transferred to the semen of a man who is just suitable to become his father. During sexual intercourse, the soul is transferred through the semen of the father into the mother’s womb in order to produce a particular type of body. This process is applicable to all embodied living entities, but it is especially mentioned for the man who was transferred to the Andha-tāmisra hell. After suffering there, when he who has had many types of hellish bodies, like those of dogs and hogs, is to come again to the human form, he is given the chance to take his birth in the same type of body from which he degraded himself to hell.

Everything is done by the supervision of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Material nature supplies the body, but it does so under the direction of the Supersoul. It is said in Bhagavad-gītā that a living entity is wandering in this material world on a chariot made by material nature. The Supreme Lord, as Supersoul, is always present with the individual soul. He directs material nature to supply a particular type of body to the individual soul according to the result of his work, and the material nature supplies it. Here one word, retaḥ-kaṇāśrayaḥ, is very significant because it indicates that it is not the semen of the man that creates life within the womb of a woman; rather, the living entity, the soul, takes shelter in a particle of semen and is then pushed into the womb of a woman. Then the body develops. There is no possibility of creating a living entity without the presence of the soul simply by sexual intercourse. The materialistic theory that there is no soul and that a child is born simply by material combination of the sperm and ovum is not very feasible. It is unacceptable.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
The Lord said: The jīva about to receive a human body by the law of karma, under the supervision of the Lord, taking shelter of a particle of semen from a man, enters the womb of a woman. In the Thirty-first Chapter the pains in the womb, at birth, as an infant, and as a child, as well as bhakti of the jīva as it speaks in the womb are explained. Now Kapila shows how the living entity again returns to the human species. The jīva enters a human body by previous karmas, which are put into action (netra) by the Lord.
Shelter, in this verse, is not a metaphor for emotional comfort but for actual safety. Real refuge is what holds when health, status, and relationships do not. The pivot here is Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Reflection Questions
  • When something in your life last gave way, where did you instinctively turn first?
  • What small act of dependence on the Lord could you practice this week instead of self-reliance?
📝 My note

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