Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.8.17
గ్రామ్యగీతం న శృణుయాద్ యతిర్వనచర: క్వచిత్ ।
శిక్షేత హరిణాద్ బద్ధాన్మృగయోర్గీతమోహితాత్ ॥ ౧౭ ॥
grāmya-gītaṁ na śṛṇuyād
[graamya-geetam na shrinuyaad]
yatir vana-caraḥ kvacit
[yatir vana-charah kvachit]
śikṣeta hariṇād baddhān
[shiksheta harinaad baddhaan]
mṛgayor gīta-mohitāt
[mrigayor geeta-mohitaat]
Word-for-word
grāmya
—
relating to sense gratification
gītam
—
songs
na
—
not
śṛṇuyāt
—
he should hear
yatiḥ
—
a saintly mendicant
vana
—
in the forest
caraḥ
—
moving
kvacit
—
ever
śikṣeta
—
one should learn
hariṇāt
—
from the deer
baddhāt
—
bound up
mṛgayoḥ
—
of the hunter
gīta
—
by the song
mohitāt
—
bewildered.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
grāmya-gītaṁ na śṛṇuyād
grāmya
relating to sense gratification
gītam
songs
na
not
śṛṇuyāt
he should hear
yatir vana-caraḥ kvacit
yatiḥ
a saintly mendicant
vana
in the forest
caraḥ
moving
kvacit
ever
śikṣeta hariṇād baddhān
śikṣeta
one should learn
hariṇāt
from the deer
baddhāt
bound up
mṛgayor gīta-mohitāt
mṛgayoḥ
of the hunter
gīta
by the song
mohitāt
bewildered.
A saintly person dwelling in the forest in the renounced order of life should never listen to songs or music promoting material enjoyment. Rather, a saintly person should carefully study the example of the deer, who is bewildered by the sweet music of the hunter’s horn and is thus captured and killed.
Purport
If one becomes attached to the sense gratification of materialistic music and songs, one will develop all the features of material entanglement. One should hear Bhagavad-gītā, or the song sung by the Supreme Lord.
— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura
Gauḍīya
Translation
A saintly person dwelling in the forest in the renounced order of life should never listen to songs or music promoting material enjoyment. Rather, he should carefully study the example of the deer, which is bewildered by the sweet music of the hunter’s horn and is thus captured and killed.
He learned from the deer that attachment to material songs causes obstacles. One should instead hear Bhagavad-gītā.
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Like the deer lured by the hunter's horn, a sādhaka caught by sense-pleasing music walks straight into bondage — hear Kṛṣṇa's song instead.
Practical Applications
- Audit today's playlist and delete the tracks that quietly inflame lust, envy, or self-pity.
- Replace one stretch of grāmya-gīta listening with audible recitation or kīrtana of Bhagavad-gītā.
- Notice the first pull toward sentimental music when restless, and turn instead to the holy name.
Reflection Questions
- Which songs do I defend as 'just entertainment' while knowing they pull me back into the consciousness Kṛṣṇa is calling me out of?
- Where in my life am I the deer — standing transfixed by something sweet, unaware the arrow is already drawn?
For Each Age Group
youth
- Before opening a streaming app, ask which mood you are about to feed — loneliness, lust, rebellion — and choose accordingly.
- Pick one playlist tied to a past relationship or peer group and retire it; replace it with a kīrtana track you can actually enjoy.
- When friends pass the aux cord and play something coarse, do not perform outrage — simply notice what it does to your mind for the next hour.
householder
- Notice what plays in the car with your children and ask whether those lyrics are forming the saṁskāras you want them to carry.
- Replace background music at dinner one evening a week with a recorded reading of Bhagavad-gītā or Bhāgavatam.
- When stress sends you toward sentimental or aggressive music as a release valve, treat that pull as a signal to chant a round instead.
senior
- Review the songs that still stir old longings or regrets, and decide which ones are no longer worth carrying into your remaining years.
- Curate what your grandchildren hear in your home — your house can be the place they first encounter the song sung by the Lord.
- As hearing itself softens with age, give your remaining attention to harināma and Bhāgavatam rather than to the music that shaped your earlier self.
Common Pitfalls
- Treating the verse as forbidding all music, then bingeing in secret rather than substituting Kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtana.
- Assuming the warning is only for forest-dwelling sannyāsīs and exempting one's own household listening.
- Cleaning up the playlist outwardly while still replaying the same lyrics and moods internally.
Discussion Prompts
- Share one song or genre you suspect is your personal hunter's horn — and what you have actually tried to do about it.
- Is there a difference between 'neutral' background music and grāmya-gīta, or is that distinction a self-deception we should examine?
- When does art that depicts material life serve bhakti, and when does it simply rehearse viṣaya in the heart?
Role Play
Two devotees share a commute. One puts on a popular love song and says, 'It's just nostalgia, it doesn't affect my sādhana.' The other has been quietly disturbed by such music for weeks. Play out the conversation honestly — not as a lecture, but as two practitioners working out how this verse applies between them.
Objections & Responses
- This is puritanical. Music is a universal human good — surely Kṛṣṇa, who plays the flute, does not want us joyless.
The verse does not forbid music; it forbids grāmya-gīta — music that glorifies sense gratification. Kṛṣṇa's flute and the saṅkīrtana of the holy name are the highest music. The point is not less song but the right song. - I can listen to anything and stay detached — my consciousness is strong enough.
The deer also thought itself safe in its own forest. Prabhupāda's purport is direct: attachment to materialistic songs develops 'all the features of material entanglement.' The verse warns the renunciant precisely because confidence in one's own immunity is the first stage of capture.
My note
Source: vedabase.io