FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.7.57

కపోతీ ప్రథమం గర్భం గృహ్ణన్తీ కాల ఆగతే । అణ్డాని సుషువే నీడే స్వపత్యు: సన్నిధౌ సతీ ॥ ౫౭ ॥
kapotī prathamaṁ garbhaṁ
[kapotee prathamam garbham]
gṛhṇantī kāla āgate
[grihnantee kaala aagate]
aṇḍāni suṣuve nīḍe
[andaani sushuve neede]
sta-patyuḥ sannidhau satī
[sta-patyuh sannidhau satee]
Word-for-word
kapotī — the female pigeon prathamam — her first garbham — pregnancy gṛhṇantī — carrying kāle — when the time (for delivery) āgate — had come aṇḍāni — eggs suṣuve — she delivered nīḍe — in the nest sva-patyuḥ — of her husband sannidhau — in the presence satī — the chaste.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
kapotī prathamaṁ garbhaṁ
kapotī
the female pigeon
prathamam
her first
garbham
pregnancy
gṛhṇantī kāla āgate
gṛhṇantī
carrying
kāle
when the time (for delivery)
āgate
had come
aṇḍāni suṣuve nīḍe
aṇḍāni
eggs
suṣuve
she delivered
nīḍe
in the nest
sva-patyuḥ
of her husband
sta-patyuḥ sannidhau satī
sannidhau
in the presence
satī
the chaste.
Then the female pigeon experienced her first pregnancy. When the time arrived, the chaste lady delivered a number of eggs within the nest in the presence of her husband.
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Then the female pigeon experienced her first pregnancy. When the time arrived, the chaste lady delivered a number of eggs within the nest in the presence of her husband.
Personal Guidance
The first pregnancy bonds the pigeon couple to their nest — notice how each natural milestone tightens the knot of bodily identification.
Practical Applications
  • Notice today which life-event you most identify with as proof of your worth, and offer that identification to Kṛṣṇa before sleep.
  • Speak to your spouse or closest companion about one shared milestone you are quietly using to define yourselves, and reframe it as a service.
  • Refuse to let the next "first" in your life — a job, a child, a home — become the secret center of gravity that replaces sādhana.
Reflection Questions
  • Which "first" achievement of mine am I most quietly proud of, and how has that pride deepened my sense of being the body?
  • Where in my life am I, like the pigeon, building a nest in good faith while forgetting that the nest itself is temporary?
For Each Age Group
youth
  • Notice which "first" you are chasing right now — first relationship, first job offer, first thousand followers — and ask honestly what consciousness it is shaping in you.
  • Speak to one friend this week about the difference between celebrating a milestone and letting it define you, using your own examples.
  • Refuse to post your next big achievement until you have first offered it inwardly to Kṛṣṇa and felt whether the joy survives without the audience.
householder
  • Notice the specific moment in your home — a child's milestone, a promotion, a renovation — where your identity quietly fused with the outcome, and bring it into your morning prayer.
  • Speak to your spouse about one shared "nest-building" project that has become heavier than it should be, and decide together how to keep it in its proper place.
  • Refuse to measure your spiritual life by the smoothness of family life; perform every duty fully, but anchor the self in service to Kṛṣṇa, not in the role of provider or parent.
senior
  • Notice which past "first" — first child, first house, first major success — still secretly defines you, and begin loosening that identification through daily remembrance.
  • Speak to a younger householder this week about the unseen cost of nest-building, not as warning but as honest testimony from your own life.
  • Refuse to spend your final years rearranging the nest; redirect that same energy into hearing, chanting, and preparing the consciousness in which you wish to leave the body.
Common Pitfalls
  • Misreading the verse as a condemnation of marriage or children rather than a warning about the consciousness that grows around them.
  • Treating chastity and faithfulness as the problem, when the real issue is identifying the soul with the role of spouse or parent.
  • Using the verse to justify neglecting one's family duties rather than performing them as offering to Kṛṣṇa.
Discussion Prompts
  • Share one "first" in your life that you now see was a turning point into deeper material entanglement — would you choose it again knowing what you know now?
  • The pigeon is called satī, chaste — is the verse criticizing her virtue, or something subtler? Argue both sides in your pair.
  • Where is the line between joyfully receiving life's gifts (a child, a home) and being captured by them? Test each other's answers with concrete cases.
Role Play

A young couple in your saṅga has just announced their first pregnancy and asks you, their senior friend, how to keep Kṛṣṇa at the center as the baby arrives. One student plays the expectant parent glowing with anticipation; another plays the senior friend who must speak truthfully from this verse without dampening the joy or moralizing.

Objections & Responses
  • This verse seems to pathologize a perfectly natural and beautiful moment — a first pregnancy. Isn't this just life-denying religiosity?
    The verse does not condemn the pregnancy; it shows how consciousness narrows around it. Gauḍīya teachers welcome family life as a field of service — the warning is only against letting the nest replace Kṛṣṇa as the center.
  • Why use a pigeon at all? This sounds like a quaint animal fable, not serious philosophy for adults.
    Śukadeva chooses the pigeon precisely because we recognize ourselves in her — sincere, faithful, hard-working, and yet bound by the very bonds she calls love. The animal frame strips away our self-flattery so the diagnosis can land.
📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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