SB 11.28.33 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

पूर्वं गृहीतं गुणकर्मचित्र- मज्ञानमात्मन्यविविक्तमङ्ग । निवर्तते तत् पुनरीक्षयैव न गृह्यते नापि विसृज्य आत्मा ॥ ३३ ॥

Verse text

pūrvaṁ gṛhītaṁ guṇa-karma-citram ajṣānam ātmany aviviktam aṅga nivartate tat punar īkṣayaiva na gṛhyate nāpi visṛjya ātmā

Synonyms

pūrvam — previously ; gṛhītam — accepted ; guṇa — of the modes of nature ; karma — by the activities ; citram — made varied ; ajṣānam — the ignorance ; ātmani — upon the soul ; aviviktam — imposed as identical ; aṅga — My dear Uddhava ; nivartate — ceases ; tat — that ; punaḥ — again ; īkṣayā — by knowledge ; eva — alone ; na gṛhyate — is not accepted ; na — nor ; api — indeed ; visṛjya — being rejected ; ātmā — the soul .

Translation

Material nescience, which expands into many varieties by the activities of the modes of nature, is wrongly accepted by the conditioned soul to be identical with the self. But through the cultivation of spiritual knowledge, My dear Uddhava, this same nescience fades away at the time of liberation. The eternal self, on the other hand, is never assumed and never abandoned.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

In the state of bondage, ignorance which made into variety by actions created by the guṇas was accepted as the self, without investigation. O Uddhava! Ignorance is destroyed by jṣāna. But ātmā is never accepted or rejected. Therefore jṣāna which destroys ignorance is recommended. Previously, in the state of bondage, ignorance which is of many varieties by actions created by the guṇas, was accepted as the ātmā, the object “you” without investigation (aviviktam). He does not consider “Where did ignorance come from? What is its nature?” One destroys that state of ignorance by jṣāna in the liberated state. In the previous state jṣāna was not accepted. In the later state jṣāna is accepted. But ātmā is never accepted or rejected. Ātmā alone gives pleasure at all times.

Purport

It is emphasized here that the eternal self is never assumed or imposed as a material designation, nor is it ever abandoned. As explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, the soul is eternally the same and does not undergo transformation. The modes of nature, however, create the gross material body and subtle mind as a result of one’s previous fruitive activities, and these gross and subtle bodies are imposed upon the soul. Thus the living entity can neither assume nor reject the soul, which is an eternal fact. Rather, he should give up the gross ignorance of material consciousness by cultivating spiritual knowledge, as indicated here.