FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.2.23

అవ్యాహతేష్టగతయ: సురసిద్ధసాధ్య- గన్ధర్వయక్షనరకిన్నరనాగలోకాన్ । ముక్తాశ్చరన్తి మునిచారణభూతనాథ- విద్యాధరద్విజగవాం భువనాని కామమ్ ॥ ౨౩ ॥
avyāhateṣṭa-gatayaḥ sura-siddha-sādhya-
[avyaahateshta-gatayah sura-siddha-saadhya-]
gandharva-yakṣa-nara-kinnara-nāga-lokān
[gandharva-yaksha-nara-kinnara-naaga-lokaan]
muktāś caranti muni-cāraṇa-bhūtanātha-
[muktaash charanti muni-chaarana-bhootanaatha-]
vidyādhara-dvija-gavāṁ bhuvanāni kāmam
[vidyaadhara-dvija-gavaam bhuvanaani kaamam]
Word-for-word
avyāhata — unimpeded iṣṭa-gatayaḥ — in moving as they please sura — of the demigods siddha — perfected mystics sādhya — Sādhyas gandharva — heavenly musicians yakṣa — associates of Kuvera nara — human beings kinnara — minor demigods who can change their form at will nāga — and serpents lokān — the worlds muktāḥ — free caranti — they travel muni — of the sages cāraṇa — angels bhūta-nātha — ghostly followers of Lord Śiva vidyādhara — Vidyādharas dvija — brāhmaṇas gavām — and of the cows bhuvanāni — the worlds kāmam — however they want.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
avyāhateṣṭa-gatayaḥ sura-siddha-sādhya-
avyāhata
unimpeded
iṣṭa-gatayaḥ
in moving as they please
sura
of the demigods
siddha
perfected mystics
sādhya
Sādhyas
gandharva-yakṣa-nara-kinnara-nāga-lokān
gandharva
heavenly musicians
yakṣa
associates of Kuvera
nara
human beings
kinnara
minor demigods who can change their form at will
nāga
and serpents
lokān
the worlds
muktāś caranti muni-cāraṇa-bhūtanātha-
muktāḥ
free
caranti
they travel
muni
of the sages
cāraṇa
angels
bhūta-nātha
ghostly followers of Lord Śiva
vidyādhara-dvija-gavāṁ bhuvanāni kāmam
vidyādhara
Vidyādharas
dvija
brāhmaṇas
gavām
and of the cows
bhuvanāni
the worlds
kāmam
however they want.
The nine Yogendras are liberated souls who travel freely to the planets of the demigods, the perfected mystics, the Sādhyas, the heavenly musicians, the Yakṣas, the human beings, and the minor demigods such as the Kinnaras and the serpents. No mundane force can check their free movement, and exactly as they wish they can travel as well to the worlds of the sages, the angels, the ghostly followers of Lord Śiva, the Vidyādharas, the brāhmaṇas and the cows.
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
The nine Yogendras are liberated souls who travel unchecked to the planets of the devatās, the perfected mystics, the Sādhyas, the heavenly musicians, the Yakṣas, the human beings, and the Kinnaras and the serpents. As they wish, they can travel as well to the worlds of the sages, the Cāraṇas, the ghostly followers of Lord Śiva, the Vidyādharas, the brāhmaṇas and the cows.
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Liberation in bhakti is not confinement but unimpeded freedom — the Yogendras roam every world at will because nothing material can check a surrendered soul.
Practical Applications
  • Notice today where you feel 'stuck' — by job, body, circumstance — and recognize that the cage is identification with matter, not the soul itself.
  • Refuse the modern belief that freedom means more options; instead, take one act of surrender to Kṛṣṇa and feel the freedom that follows.
  • Speak to someone you envy for their mobility or status, and silently remember that the liberated soul moves where even they cannot.
Reflection Questions
  • Which 'planets' of pleasure, recognition, or security have I been straining to reach, while ignoring the freedom offered through bhakti?
  • What would my day look like if I lived as someone whose movement no mundane force can check — not in body, but in consciousness?
For Each Age Group
youth
  • When peers measure freedom by where they can travel, who they can date, what they can post — notice that the verse describes a freedom none of that can buy.
  • Pick the rule in your sādhana you most resent (early rising, no intoxication, restraint on phone) and keep it strictly for one week as an experiment in real freedom.
  • Refuse the FOMO economy of social media: every scroll is an attempt to visit 'planets' you were never meant to chase.
householder
  • When the mortgage, the school run, and the office make you feel caged, remember the cage is identification — do your duty with the inner freedom of one who is not the doer.
  • Decide one family expenditure this month not by 'what will the neighbors think' but by 'what would a soul unconstrained by material opinion choose?'
  • Speak to your spouse and children today as eternal souls passing through your household, not as fixtures whose behavior must conform to your expectations.
senior
  • As the body's mobility narrows, deliberately widen the soul's mobility — japa, hearing, and remembrance go where the legs no longer can.
  • Loosen your grip on the house, the bank account, the family role; the Yogendras hold nothing and are welcome everywhere.
  • Mentor a younger devotee by transmitting not your achievements but the taste of an unconstrained inner life, which is the only inheritance that travels with the soul.
Common Pitfalls
  • Romanticizing the Yogendras' travel as a yogic siddhi to acquire, rather than the natural byproduct of pure devotion.
  • Mistaking liberation for escapism — wanting to flee responsibilities instead of being free *within* one's duties.
  • Treating 'free movement' as license for whim, when the verse describes movement governed entirely by Kṛṣṇa's pleasure (kāmam, in the highest sense).
Discussion Prompts
  • Share a time you felt most 'unfree' — was the obstacle outside you, or inside? What would the verse say to that moment?
  • The verse lists realms most of us will never see. Why does Vyāsa bother describing them, and what does it do to our scale of values?
  • If a liberated soul can already roam every world, what is left for him to want? Discuss what motivates the muktas to keep acting at all.
Role Play

A college student tells her devotee friend she is leaving sādhana because it feels restrictive — early mornings, dietary rules, no parties. The friend must use this verse to show her that the rules are not the cage; her current life is. Play both roles for five minutes, then switch.

Objections & Responses
  • This sounds like mythology — demigods, Yakṣas, Kinnaras. Why should a modern student take seriously a verse about beings we cannot verify?
    Set aside the cosmology for a moment and notice the structural claim: there exist states of consciousness that no material force can constrain. That claim is testable in your own life — try one week of disciplined sādhana and see whether your inner mobility expands or contracts. The cosmology is the map; bhakti is the territory.
  • If the Yogendras are already liberated and can go anywhere, isn't this just spiritual tourism dressed up as mokṣa?
    Their movement is not for sense-gratification but for the welfare of others — they appear in Janaka's court precisely to teach. Liberation in the Gauḍīya line is never a private vacation; it is freedom *for* service. The mukta moves where Kṛṣṇa's mission calls him, which is why even the brāhmaṇa and cow communities are listed alongside the celestial realms.
📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

← Read full Chapter 2