| Canto 11: General History | Chapter 13: The Hamsa-avatara Answers the Questions of the Sons of Brahma |
Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 11.13.34
iksheta vibhramam idam manaso vilasam
drishtam vinashtam ati-lolam alata-cakram
vijnanam ekam urudheva vibhati maya
svapnas tridha guna-visarga-krito vikalpah
SYNONYMS
iksheta -- one should see; vibhramam -- as illusion or mistake; idam -- this (material world); manasah -- of the mind; vilasam -- appearance or jumping; drishtam -- here today; vinashtam -- gone tomorrow; ati-lolam -- extremely flickering; alata-cakram -- just like the moving red line created by whirling a fiery stick; vijnanam -- the spirit soul, by nature fully conscious; ekam -- is one; urudha -- in many divisions; iva -- as if; vibhati -- appears; maya -- this is illusion; svapnah -- merely a dream; tridha -- in three divisions; guna -- of the modes of nature; visarga -- by the transformation; kritah -- created; vikalpah -- variety of perception or imagination.
TRANSLATION
One should see that the material world is a distinct illusion appearing in the mind, because material objects have an extremely flickering existence and are here today and gone tomorrow. They can be compared to the streaking red line created by whirling a fiery stick. The spirit soul by nature exists in the single state of pure consciousness. However, in this world he appears in many different forms and stages of existence. The modes of nature divide the soul's consciousness into normal wakefulness, dreaming and dreamless sleep. All such varieties of perception, however, are actually maya and exist only like a dream.
PURPORT
The Lord now describes an additional process for transcending the illusory interaction of the material mind and material sense objects. Lasa means "jumping" or "dancing," and thus manaso vilasam here indicates that the material mind is jumping superficially from one conception of life to another. Our original consciousness, however, is one (vijnanam ekam). Therefore, one should carefully study the flickering "here today, gone tomorrow" nature of the material world and detach oneself from the illusory variety of maya.
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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