Devanagari
शोकहर्षभयक्रोधलोभमोहस्पृहादय: ।
अहङ्कारस्य दृश्यन्ते जन्म मृत्युश्च नात्मन: ॥ १५ ॥
Verse text
śoka-harṣa-bhaya-krodha-
lobha-moha-spṛhādayaḥ
ahaṅkārasya dṛśyante
janma-mṛtyuś ca nātmanaḥ
Synonyms
śoka
—
lamentation
;
harṣa
—
elation
;
bhaya
—
fear
;
krodha
—
anger
;
lobha
—
greed
;
moha
—
confusion
;
spṛhā
—
hankering
;
ādayaḥ
—
and so on
;
ahaṅkārasya
—
of false ego
;
dṛśyante
—
they appear
;
janma
—
birth
;
mṛtyuḥ
—
death
;
ca
—
and
;
na
—
not
;
ātmanaḥ
—
of the soul .
Translation
Lamentation, elation, fear, anger, greed, confusion and hankering, as well as birth and death, are experiences of the false ego and not of the pure soul.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Lamentation, elation, fear, anger, greed, confusion and hankering, as well as birth and death, are caused by the ahaṅkāra and not by the ātmā
Fear and lamentation are not qualities of the ātmā since one does not see these qualities during deep sleep, when ahaṅkāra is absent and the ātmā still is active. Though ahaṅkāra is responsible for lamentation and fear, ahaṅkāra does not experience them since it is unconscious. Thus saṁsāra does not belong to ahaṅkāra either.
Purport
False ego is the pure soul’s illusory identification with the subtle material mind and the gross material body. As a result of this illusory identification, the conditioned soul feels lamentation for things lost, jubilation over things gained, fear of things inauspicious, anger at the frustration of his desires, and greed for sense gratification. And so, bewildered by such false attractions and aversions, the conditioned soul must accept further material bodies, which means he must undergo repeated births and deaths. One who is self-realized knows that all such mundane emotions have nothing to do with the pure soul, whose natural propensity is to engage in the loving service of the Lord.