Devanagari
सुप्तस्य विषयालोको ध्यायतो वा मनोरथ: ।
नानात्मकत्वाद् विफलस्तथा भेदात्मधीर्गुणै: ॥ ३ ॥
Verse text
suptasya viṣayāloko
dhyāyato vā manorathaḥ
nānātmakatvād viphalas
tathā bhedātma-dhīr guṇaiḥ
Synonyms
suptasya
—
of one who is sleeping
;
viṣaya
—
sense gratification
;
ālokaḥ
—
seeing
;
dhyāyataḥ
—
of one who is meditating
;
vā
—
or
;
manaḥ
—
rathaḥ — merely a creation of the mind
;
nānā
—
a large variety
;
ātmakatvāt
—
due to having the nature of
;
viphalaḥ
—
bereft of the real perfection
;
tathā
—
in that way
;
bheda
—
ātma — in that which is separately constituted
;
dhīḥ
—
intelligence
;
guṇaiḥ
—
by the material senses .
Translation
One who is sleeping may see many objects of sense gratification in a dream, but such pleasurable things are merely creations of the mind and are thus ultimately useless. Similarly, the living entity who is asleep to his spiritual identity also sees many sense objects, but these innumerable objects of temporary gratification are creations of the Lord’s illusory potency and have no permanent existence. One who meditates upon them, impelled by the senses, uselessly engages his intelligence.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Just as objects seen in dreams or in the waking mind yield no spiritual results since they depend on material objects, intelligence depending on material objects using the material senses yields no spiritual results.
Because material results are destructible, they are equivalent of their non-attainment. Spiritual results are not obtainable by material senses. That is explained in this verse. Because of taking support of many material objects, the perceptions in sleep have no spiritual result. Because the intelligence takes support of various material objects (bhedātma), by the material senses (guṇaiḥ), it yields no spiritual result. Intelligence simply by being individually aware of various objects made of the guṇas by means of the senses does not yield spiritual results. The results are like objects experienced in dreams, generated from the mind, since they take support of material objects either auspicious or inauspicious. But intelligence which takes support of the Lord alone yields spiritual results. There is oneness in this perception of intelligence, concerning the Lords’ form, qualities pastimes and devotees, because one cannot separate them since they are all spiritual and since they are all auspicious. It is said:
vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana |
bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca buddhayo ’vyavasāyinām ||
Resolute intelligence is only one in this process, O son of the Kurus. The intelligence of those who are irresolute has many branches of action and unlimited desires. BG 2.41
Purport
Because the fruits of material work are temporary, it ultimately does not matter whether or not one obtains them; the final result is the same. Materialistic activities can never award the highest perfection of life, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The material intelligence, impelled by the senses, strongly desires sense gratification. As stated here (
bhedātma-dhīḥ
), such intelligence actually separates one from one’s real self-interest. Thus the intelligence, absorbed in that which is materially favorable and unfavorable, becomes divided in pursuit of innumerable categories of material advancement. Such divided intelligence is impotent and cannot understand the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The devotees of the Lord, however, have their intelligence fixed on one point — Lord Kṛṣṇa. They meditate upon the Lord’s form, qualities, pastimes and devotees, and thus their intelligence is never separated from the Absolute Truth. As stated in
Bhagavad-gītā
(2.41)
:
vyavasāyātmikā buddhir
ekeha kuru-nandana
bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca
buddhayo ’vyavasāyinām
“Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many branched.”
If one is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, he is uselessly dreaming without any understanding of his eternal situation. The material intelligence will always devise novel means of achieving happiness, and therefore one bounces from one fruitless program of sense gratification to another, ignoring the simple fact that all material things are temporary and will disappear. In this way one’s intelligence becomes infected with material lust and greed, and such infected intelligence cannot bring one to the true goal of life. One should hear from the bona fide spiritual master whose intelligence is pure, and then one will come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the highest perfection of life.