Srimad Bhagavatam — Ekadasha Skandha, Shloka 19
Sādhu-saṅga, the Gopīs’ Prema, and the Veda’s Culmination in Exclusive Surrender
एवं गदि: कर्म गतिर्विसर्गो घ्राणो रसो दृक् स्पर्श: श्रुतिश्च । सङ्कल्पविज्ञानमथाभिमान: सूत्रं रज:सत्त्वतमोविकार: ॥ १९ ॥
evaṁ gadiḥ karma gatir visargo ghrāṇo raso dṛk sparśaḥ śrutiś ca saṅkalpa-vijñānam athābhimānaḥ sūtraṁ rajaḥ-sattva-tamo-vikāraḥ
The activities of the working senses—speech, hands, legs, genitals and anus—and of the knowledge-acquiring senses—nose, tongue, eyes, skin and ears—together with the subtle functions of mind, intelligence, consciousness and false ego, as well as the subtle pradhāna and the transformations of the three modes (rajas, sattva and tamas): all this should be understood as My form manifest within matter.
By the word gadi, or “speech,” the Lord concludes His discussion about His manifestation as Vedic vibrations and describes the functions of the other working senses, along with the knowledge-acquiring senses, the subtle functions of consciousness, pradhāna and the interaction of the three modes of material nature. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person sees the entire material world as a manifestation of the Lord’s potencies. There is therefore no legitimate scope for material sense gratification, because everything is an expansion from the Supreme Personality of Godhead and belongs to Him. One who can understand the expansion of the Lord within subtle and gross material manifestations gives up his desire to live in this world. In the spiritual world everything is eternal, full of bliss and knowledge. The exclusive feature of the material world is that here the living entity dreams that he is lord. A sane person, giving up this hallucination, finds no attractive features in the kingdom of māyā and therefore returns home, back to Godhead.
FAQs
This verse lists the arising of the senses (smell, taste, sight, touch, hearing), the working faculties, and inner instruments like intention (saṅkalpa), discriminating knowledge (vijñāna) and false ego (abhimāna), showing how embodied experience is structured through guṇas.
Kṛṣṇa instructs Uddhava in analytical understanding of material nature so Uddhava can detach from misidentification with body and mind and fix devotion on the Lord beyond the guṇas.
Notice which guṇa drives a reaction (tamas, rajas, or sattva), reduce egoic identification (“I am this role/body”), and redirect the senses toward sādhana—hearing, chanting and service—so consciousness becomes steady and devotional.