Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.84.24-25

yathā śayānah purusha

ātmānam guna-tattva-drik

nāma-mātrendriyābhātam

na veda rahitam param

evam tvā nāma-mātreshu

vishayeshv indriyehayā

māyayā vibhramac-citto

na veda smrity-upaplavāt

SYNONYMS

yathā — as; śayānah — sleeping; purushah — a person; ātmānam — himself; guna — secondary; tattva — of reality; drik — whose vision; nāma — with names; mātra — and forms; indriya — through his mind; ābhātam — manifest; na veda — he does not know; rahitam — separate; param — rather; evam — similarly; tvā — You; nāma-mātreshu — having names and forms; vishayeshu — in objects of material perception; indriya — of the senses; īhayā — by the activity; māyayā — because of the influence of Your illusory energy; vibhramat — becoming bewildered; cittah — whose consciousness; na veda — one does not know; smriti — of his memory; upaplavāt — 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,

mayā tatam idam sarvam

jagad avyakta-mūrtinā

mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni

na cāham teshv avasthitah

na ca mat-sthāni bhūtāni

paśya me yogam aiśvaram

bhūta-bhrin na ca bhūta-stho

mamātmā bhūta-bhāvanah

"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)

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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