Srimad Bhagavatam — Ekadasha Skandha, Shloka 28
Avadhūta’s Further Teachers: Detachment, Solitude, One-Pointed Meditation, and the Lord as Āśraya
सृष्ट्वा पुराणि विविधान्यजयात्मशक्त्या वृक्षान् सरीसृपपशून् खगदन्दशूकान् । तैस्तैरतुष्टहृदय: पुरुषं विधाय ब्रह्मावलोकधिषणं मुदमाप देव: ॥ २८ ॥
sṛṣṭvā purāṇi vividhāny ajayātma-śaktyā vṛkṣān sarīsṛpa-paśūn khaga-dandaśūkān tais tair atuṣṭa-hṛdayaḥ puruṣaṁ vidhāya brahmāvaloka-dhiṣaṇaṁ mudam āpa devaḥ
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, expanding His own potency, māyā-śakti, created innumerable species of life to house the conditioned souls. Yet by creating the forms of trees, reptiles, animals, birds, snakes and so on, the Lord was not satisfied within His heart. Then He created human life, which offers the conditioned soul sufficient intelligence to perceive the Absolute Truth, and became pleased.
God has specifically created the human form of life to facilitate the liberation of the conditioned soul. Therefore one who abuses human life prepares his path to hell. As stated in the Vedas, puruṣatve cāvistarām ātmā: “In the human form of life there is good possibility of understanding the eternal soul.” The Vedas also state:
FAQs
This verse explains that after creating many life-forms, the Lord became pleased only upon creating the human being, because human intelligence can perceive Brahman—making human life uniquely suited for spiritual realization.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī speaks this verse while instructing King Parīkṣit, continuing the teaching that human birth is meant for higher realization beyond sense-based living.
Use human intelligence for self-inquiry and devotion—prioritize spiritual practice (hearing, chanting, remembering the Lord) rather than living only for food, fear, sleep, and mating like lower species.