SB 11.22.54 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

यथाम्भसा प्रचलता तरवोऽपि चला इव । चक्षुषा भ्राम्यमाणेन द‍ृश्यते भ्रमतीव भू: ॥ ५४ ॥ यथा मनोरथधियो विषयानुभवो मृषा । स्वप्नद‍ृष्टाश्च दाशार्ह तथा संसार आत्मन: ॥ ५५ ॥

Verse text

yathāmbhasā pracalatā taravo ’pi calā iva cakṣuṣā bhrāmyamāṇena dṛśyate bhramatīva bhūḥ yathā manoratha-dhiyo viṣayānubhavo mṛṣā svapna-dṛṣṭāś ca dāśārha tathā saṁsāra ātmanaḥ

Synonyms

yathā — as ; ambhasā — by water ; pracalatā — moving, agitated ; taravaḥ — trees ; api — indeed ; calāḥ — moving ; iva — as if ; cakṣuṣā — by the eyes ; bhrāmyamāṇena — which are being turned about ; dṛśyate — appears ; bhramatī — moving ; iva — as if ; bhūḥ — the earth ; yathā — as ; manaḥ — ratha — of a mental fantasy ; dhiyaḥ — the ideas ; viṣaya — of sense gratification ; anubhavaḥ — the experience ; mṛṣā — false ; svapna — dṛṣṭāḥ — things seen in a dream ; ca — and ; dāśārha — O descendant of Daśārha ; tathā — thus ; saṁsāraḥ — the material life ; ātmanaḥ — of the soul .

Translation

The soul’s material life, his experience of sense gratification, is actually false, O descendant of Daśārha, just like trees’ appearance of quivering when the trees are reflected in agitated water, or like the earth’s appearance of spinning due to one’s spinning his eyes around, or like the world of a fantasy or dream.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

O descendant of Daśārha! Just like a tree appears to move when eon is on a boat moving in water, the imposition affects our vision of the world. Like the earth’s appearance of spinning due to spinning one’s eyes around, the imposition affects our own mentality. Like the world of a fantasy or dream, the imposition is illusory. Enjoyment of objects leads to saṁsāra for the ātmā. These imposed qualities manifest elsewhere in what we see. This is shown with an example. A tree on the bank appears to be moving for people on a boat moving due to movement of the water. One’s conception as a doer and enjoyer is simply an imposed quality. On accepting this conception, one takes up those qualities, just as a person who becomes possessed by a snake or ghost appears to have the qualities of a snake or ghost. An example is given of the earth moving because the eye moves. The imposed quality of material enjoyment is perceived falsely by the jīva. An example is given. It is like a dream. Enjoyment of objects leads to bondage in saṁsāra.

Purport

Trees appear to be swaying when reflected in agitated water, and similarly, when one is sitting on a moving boat the trees on the shore appear to be moving. When the wind whips up the water, creating waves, the water appears to have movement of its own, although it is actually being moved by the wind. The conditioned soul in material life does not perform any activities, but rather the material body, with the consent of the illusioned living entity, is being moved by the modes of nature. One imposes this external movement upon oneself, considering oneself to be dancing, singing, running, dying, conquering and so on, although these are merely interactions of the external body with the modes of nature.