Srimad Bhagavatam — Ekadasha Skandha, Shloka 19
Kṛṣṇa’s Impending Departure; Uddhava’s Surrender; King Yadu and the Avadhūta’s Twenty-Four Gurus
Beginnings
श्रीभगवानुवाच प्रायेण मनुजा लोके लोकतत्त्वविचक्षणा: । समुद्धरन्ति ह्यात्मानमात्मनैवाशुभाशयात् ॥ १९ ॥
śrī-bhagavān uvāca prāyeṇa manujā loke loka-tattva-vicakṣaṇāḥ samuddharanti hy ātmānam ātmanaivāśubhāśayāt
قال الربّ الأعلى: غالبًا ما يستطيع أولئك البشر الذين يُحسنون تحليل حقيقة حال هذا العالم أن يرفعوا أنفسهم بأنفسهم، بعقولهم، متجاوزين الحياة المشؤومة القائمة على التمتّع المادّي الغليظ.
Śrī Uddhava expressed to the Lord in the previous verses his fallen condition and his entanglement in the material concept of life. Now Lord Kṛṣṇa reassures Uddhava that even persons far less qualified than Uddhava are able to extricate themselves from the inauspicious life of material sense gratification. According to Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī, even if one has not received the instruction of a bona fide spiritual master, one can understand by direct and indirect analysis that the material world is not a place of enjoyment. Direct analysis means one’s personal experience and indirect analysis means hearing and reading of the experience of others.
FAQs
It says that a discerning person who understands the nature of worldly life can lift oneself out of inauspicious desires through one’s own awakened inner effort and intelligence.
Because transformation begins internally: when a person clearly perceives the reality of worldly attachments, that very understanding empowers self-correction and purification from within.
Cultivate discernment about what truly brings lasting good, then consciously replace harmful impulses with sattvic habits—study, prayer, self-control, and service—so the mind is lifted from negative tendencies.