SB 5.14.5

Srimad-Bhagavatam - Fifth Canto - Chapter 14: The Material World as the Great Forest of Enjoyment

SB 5.14.4 - SB 5.14.6

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

TEXT 5

tatra gato daṁśa-maśaka-samāpasadair manujaiḥ

śalabha-śakunta-taskara-mūṣakādibhir uparudhyamāna-bahiḥ-prāṇaḥ

kvacit parivartamāno 'sminn adhvany avidyā-kāma-karmabhir

uparakta-manasānupapannārthaṁ nara-lokaṁ gandharva-nagaram

upapannam iti mithyā-dṛṣṭir anupaśyati

SYNONYMS

tatra — to that household life; gataḥ — gone; daṁśa — gadflies; maśaka — mosquitoes; sama — equal to; apasadaiḥ — who are low-class; manu-jaiḥ — by men; śalabha — locusts; śakunta — a large bird of prey; taskara — thieves; mūṣaka-ādibhiḥ — by rats and so on; uparudhyamāna — being disturbed; bahiḥ-prāṇaḥ — the external life air in the form of wealth and so on; kvacit — sometimes; parivartamānaḥ — wandering; asmin — in this; adhvani — path of material existence; avidyā-kāma — by ignorance and lust; karmabhiḥ — and by fruitive activities; uparakta-manasā — due to the mind's being influenced; anupapanna-artham — in which the desired results are never obtained; nara-lokam — this material world; gandharva-nagaram — a will-o'-the-wisp city; upapannam — existing; iti — taking it as; mithyā-dṛṣṭiḥ — he whose vision is mistaken; anupaśyati — observes.

TRANSLATION

Sometimes the conditioned soul in household life, being attached to material wealth and possessions, is disturbed by gadflies and mosquitoes, and sometimes locusts, birds of prey and rats give him trouble. Nonetheless, he still wanders down the path of material existence. Due to ignorance he becomes lusty and engages in fruitive activity. Because his mind is absorbed in these activities, he sees the material world as permanent, although it is temporary like a phantasmagoria, a house in the sky.

PURPORT

The following song is sung by Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura:

ahaṅkāre matta hañā, nitāi-pada pāsariyā,

asatyere satya kari māni

Due to forgetting the lotus feet of Lord Nityānanda and being puffed up by material possessions, wealth and opulence, one thinks the false, temporary material world to be an actual fact. This is the material disease. The living entity is eternal and blissful, but despite miserable material conditions, he thinks the material world to be real and factual due to his ignorance.

SB 5.14.4 - SB 5.14.6