Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.13.20

rahūgana tvam api hy adhvano 'sya

sannyasta-dandah krita-bhūta-maitrah

asaj-jitātmā hari-sevayā śitam

jñānāsim ādāya tarāti-pāram

SYNONYMS

rahūgana — O King Rahūgana; tvam — you; api — also; hi — certainly; adhvanah — of the path of material existence; asya — this; sannyasta-dandah — having given up the king's rod for punishing criminals; krita-bhūta-maitrah — having become friendly to everyone; asat-jita-ātmā — whose mind is not attracted to the material pleasure of life; hari-sevayā — by the means of loving service to the Supreme Lord; śitam — sharpened; jñāna-asim — the sword of knowledge; ādāya — taking i n hand; tara — cross over; ati-pāram — to the ultimate end of spiritual existence.

TRANSLATION

My dear King Rahūgana, you are also a victim of the external energy, being situated on the path of attraction to material pleasure. So that you may become an equal friend to all living entities, I now advise you to give up your kingly position and the rod by which you punish criminals. Give up attraction to the sense objects and take up the sword of knowledge sharpened by devotional service. Then you will be able to cut the hard knot of illusory energy and cross to the other side of the ocean of nescience.

PURPORT

In Bhagavad-gītā Lord Krishna compares the material world to a tree of illusion from which one must cut oneself free:

na rūpam asyeha tathopalabhyate

nānto na cādir na ca sampratishthā

aśvattham enam suvirūdha-mūlam

asańga-śastrena dridhena chittvā

tatah padam tat parimārgitavyam

yasmin gatā na nivartanti bhūyah

tam eva cādyam purusham prapadye

yatah pravrittih prasritā purānī

"The real form of this tree cannot be perceived in this world. No one can understand where it ends, where it begins, or where its foundation is. But with determination, one must cut down this tree with the weapon of detachment. So doing, one must seek that place from which, having once gone, one never returns, and there surrender to that Supreme Personality of Godhead from whom everything has begun and in whom everything is abiding since time immemorial." (Bg. 15.3-4)

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