SB 12.4.24 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

दीपश्चक्षुश्च रूपं च ज्योतिषो न पृथग् भवेत् । एवं धी: खानि मात्राश्च न स्युरन्यतमाद‍ृतात् ॥ २४ ॥

Verse text

dīpaś cakṣuś ca rūpaṁ ca jyotiṣo na pṛthag bhavet evaṁ dhīḥ khāni mātrāś ca na syur anyatamād ṛtāt

Synonyms

dīpaḥ — a lamp ; cakṣuḥ — a perceiving eye ; ca — and ; rūpam — a perceived form ; ca — and ; jyotiṣaḥ — from the original element fire ; na — not ; pṛthak — distinct ; bhavet — are ; evam — in the same way ; dhīḥ — intelligence ; khāni — the senses ; mātrāḥ — the perceptions ; ca — and ; na syuḥ — they are not ; anyatamāt — which is itself completely distinct ; ṛtāt — from the reality .

Translation

A lamp, the eye that views by the light of that lamp, and the visible form that is viewed are all basically nondifferent from the element fire. In the same way, intelligence, the senses and sense perceptions have no existence separate from the supreme reality, although that Absolute Truth remains totally distinct from them.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

A lamp, the eye that views by the light of that lamp, and the visible form that is viewed are non-different from the element light. In the same way, intelligence, the senses and sense perceptions have no existence separate from the supreme reality, although that Absolute Truth remains totally distinct from them. An example is given. Just as a lamp, the eye and form are aspects of light element, and are not different from light, which is their cause, so intelligence, senses and sense objects are not different from Brahman. Just as the lamp, eye and form—the effects--are said to be fire or light, so intelligence, senses and sense objects—the effects of Brahman--are said to be Brahman. “But if cause and effect are one, and the effect is unreal, then the cause is unreal since the effect is simply a transformation of the cause.” But Brahman is completely different from their effects, and even from prakṛti, the cause of those effects.