Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.26.26

kartṛtvaḿ karaṇatvaḿ ca

kāryatvaḿ ceti lakṣaṇam

śānta-ghora-vimūḍhatvam

iti vā syād ahańkṛteḥ

SYNONYMS

kartṛtvam — being the doer; karaṇatvam — being the instrument; ca — and; kāryatvam — being the effect; ca — also; iti — thus; lakṣaṇam — characteristic; śānta — serene; ghora — active; vimūḍhatvam — being dull; iti — thus; vā — or; syāt — may be; ahańkṛteḥ — of the false ego.

TRANSLATION

This false ego is characterized as the doer, as an instrument and as an effect. It is further characterized as serene, active or dull according to how it is influenced by the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance.

PURPORT

Ahańkāra, or false ego, is transformed into the demigods, the controlling directors of material affairs. As an instrument, the false ego is represented as different senses and sense organs, and as the result of the combination of the demigods and the senses, material objects are produced. In the material world we are producing so many things, and this is called advancement of civilization, but factually the advancement of civilization is a manifestation of the false ego. By false ego all material things are produced as objects of enjoyment. One has to cease increasing artificial necessities in the form of material objects. One great ācārya, Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, has lamented that when one deviates from pure consciousness of Vāsudeva, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he becomes entangled in material activities. The exact words he uses are, sat-sańga chāḍi' kainu asate vilāsa/ te-kāraṇe lāgila ye karma-bandha-phāńsa: "I have given up the pure status of consciousness because I wanted to enjoy in the temporary, material manifestation; therefore I have been entangled in the network of actions and reactions."

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