Srimad Bhagavatam — Dashama Skandha, Shloka 26
Kṛṣṇa Defeats Bāṇāsura and Receives Śiva’s Prayers
The Śoṇitapura Battle and the Jvara Episode
कालो दैवं कर्म जीव: स्वभावो द्रव्यं क्षेत्रं प्राण आत्मा विकार: । तत्सङ्घातो बीजरोहप्रवाह- स्त्वन्मायैषा तन्निषेधं प्रपद्ये ॥ २६ ॥
kālo daivaṁ karma jīvaḥ svabhāvo dravyaṁ kṣetraṁ prāṇa ātmā vikāraḥ tat-saṅghāto bīja-roha-pravāhas tvan-māyaiṣā tan-niṣedhaṁ prapadye
Time; fate; karma; the jīva and his propensities; the subtle material elements; the material body; the life air; false ego; the various senses; and the totality of these as reflected in the living being’s subtle body — all this constitutes your material illusory energy, māyā, an endless cycle like that of seed and plant. I take shelter of You, the negation of this māyā.
The word bīja-roha-pravāha is explained as follows: The conditioned soul accepts a material body, with which he attempts to enjoy the material world. That body is the seed ( bīja ) of future material existence because when a person acts with that body he creates further reactions ( karma ), which grow ( roha ) into the obligation to accept another material body. In other words, material life is a chain of actions and reactions. The simple decision to surrender to the Supreme Lord releases the conditioned soul from this futile repetition of material growth and reaction.
FAQs
This verse explains that time, destiny, karma, the jīva’s conditioned nature, the body-world (kṣetra), and material transformations form a single chain of causation—called the Lord’s māyā—and liberation comes by taking shelter of Kṛṣṇa for its cessation.
After Kṛṣṇa’s victory in the Bāṇāsura episode, Śiva offers prayers acknowledging Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme controller; he identifies the entire material causal network as Kṛṣṇa’s māyā and seeks freedom from it through surrender.
See life’s changing conditions—success, loss, and fate—as movements within māyā, and practice steady surrender through bhakti (hearing, chanting, and remembering Kṛṣṇa), aiming for inner detachment and God-centered action.