Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.55

kalas tu hetuh sukha-duhkhayos cet

kim atmanas tatra tad-atmako 'sau

nagner hi tapo na himasya tat syat

krudhyeta kasmai na parasya dvandvam

SYNONYMS

kalah -- time; tu -- but; hetuh -- the cause; sukha-duhkhayoh -- of happiness and distress; cet -- if; kim -- what; atmanah -- for the soul; tatra -- in that idea; tat-atmakah -- based on time; asau -- the soul; na -- not; agneh -- from fire; hi -- indeed; tapah -- burning; na -- not; himasya -- of snow; tat -- that; syat -- becomes; krudhyeta -- should become angry; kasmai -- at whom; na -- there is not; parasya -- for the transcendental soul; dvandvam -- duality.

TRANSLATION

If we accept time as the cause of happiness and distress, that experience still cannot apply to the spirit soul, since time is a manifestation of the Lord's spiritual potency and the living entities are also expansions of the Lord's spiritual potency manifesting through time. Certainly a fire does not burn its own flames or sparks, nor does the cold harm its own snowflakes or hail. In fact, the spirit soul is transcendental and beyond the experience of material happiness and distress. At whom, therefore, should one become angry?

PURPORT

The material body is dull matter and does not experience happiness, distress or anything else. Because the spirit soul is completely transcendental, he should fix his consciousness on the transcendental Lord, who is beyond material happiness and distress. It is only when transcendental consciousness falsely identifies with dull matter that the living entity imagines he is enjoying and suffering in the material world. This illusory identification of consciousness with matter is called false ego and is the cause of material existence.

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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