SB 11.23.55 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

कालस्तुहेतु: सुखदु:खयोश्चेत् किमात्मनस्तत्रतदात्मकोऽसौ । नाग्नेर्हि तापो न हिमस्य तत् स्यात् क्रुध्येत कस्मै न परस्य द्वन्द्वम् ॥ ५५ ॥

Verse text

kālas tu hetuḥ sukha-duḥkhayoś cet kim ātmanas tatra tad-ātmako ’sau nāgner hi tāpo na himasya tat syāt krudhyeta kasmai na parasya dvandvam

Synonyms

kālaḥ — time ; tu — but ; hetuḥ — the cause ; sukha — duḥkhayoḥ — of happiness and distress ; cet — if ; kim — what ; ātmanaḥ — for the soul ; tatra — in that idea ; tat — ātmakaḥ — based on time ; asau — the soul ; na — not ; agneḥ — from fire ; hi — indeed ; tāpaḥ — burning ; na — not ; himasya — of snow ; tat — that ; syāt — 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?

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

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. Fire does not burn its own flames or sparks, nor does the cold harm its own snowflakes. The jīva is transcendental and beyond the experience of material happiness and distress. At whom, therefore, should one become angry? If time is the cause of suffering, what is the role of the jīva? Jīva is non-different from time, since the jīva is an aṁśa of Brahman, and time and Brahman are one. The source of the aṁśa should not afflict the aṁśa. An example is given. Fire does not harm its sparks and cold does not harm snow flakes. Therefore at whom should one become angry? There is no duality of happiness and suffering for the jīva who is beyond māyā by his svarūpa (parasya). Thus the six proposed causes of happiness and distress have been rejected.

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.