Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 10.84.24-25

yatha sayanah purusa

atmanam guna-tattva-drk

nama-matrendriyabhatam

na veda rahitam param

evam tva nama-matresu

visayesv indriyehaya

mayaya vibhramac-citto

na veda smrty-upaplavat

SYNONYMS

yatha -- as; sayanah -- sleeping; purusah -- a person; atmanam -- himself; guna -- secondary; tattva -- of reality; drk -- whose vision; nama -- with names; matra -- and forms; indriya -- through his mind; abhatam -- manifest; na veda -- he does not know; rahitam -- separate; param -- rather; evam -- similarly; tva -- You; nama-matresu -- having names and forms; visayesu -- in objects of material perception; indriya -- of the senses; ihaya -- by the activity; mayaya -- because of the influence of Your illusory energy; vibhramat -- becoming bewildered; cittah -- whose consciousness; na veda -- one does not know; smrti -- of his memory; upaplavat -- due to the disruption.

TRANSLATION

A sleeping person imagines an alternative reality for himself and, seeing himself as having various names and forms, forgets his waking identity, which is distinct from the dream. Similarly, the senses of one whose consciousness is bewildered by illusion perceive only the names and forms of material objects. Thus such a person loses his memory and cannot know You.

PURPORT

Just as a person's dream is a secondary reality created from the stock of his memories and desires, so this universe exists as the inferior creation of the Supreme Lord, in no real way separate from Him. And just as the person who awakens from sleep experiences the higher reality of his waking life, so the Supreme Lord also has His distinct, higher reality beyond everything we know of this world. In His own words,

maya tatam idam sarvam

jagad avyakta-murtina

mat-sthani sarva-bhutani

na caham tesv avasthitah

na ca mat-sthani bhutani

pasya me yogam aisvaram

bhuta-bhrn na ca bhuta-stho

mamatma bhuta-bhavanah

"By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them. And yet everything that is created does not rest in Me. Behold My mystic opulence! Although I am the maintainer of all living entities and although I am everything, I am not part of this cosmic manifestation, for My Self is the very source of creation." (Bg. 9.4-5)

<<< >>>

Copyright (c) The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
Dravida dasa Brahmacari