SB 5.14.6
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 6
- tatra ca kvacid ātapodaka-nibhān viṣayān upadhāvati
- pāna-bhojana-vyavāyādi-vyasana-lolupaḥ
SYNONYMS
tatra — there (in this phantom place); ca — also; kvacit — sometimes; ātapa-udaka-nibhān — like the water in a mirage in the desert; viṣayān — the objects of sense enjoyment; upadhāvati — runs after; pāna — to drinking; bhojana — to eating; vyavāya — to sex life; ādi — and so on; vyasana — with addiction; lolupaḥ — a debauchee.
TRANSLATION
Sometimes in this house in the sky [gandharva-pura] the conditioned soul drinks, eats and has sex. Being overly attached, he chases after the objects of the senses just as a deer chases a mirage in the desert.
PURPORT
There are two worlds—the spiritual and the material. The material world is false like a mirage in the desert. In the desert, animals think they see water, but actually there is none. Similarly, those who are animalistic try to find peace within the desert of material life. It is repeatedly said in different śāstras that there is no pleasure in this material world. Furthermore, even if we agree to live without pleasure, we are not allowed to do so. In Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Kṛṣṇa says that the material world is not only full of miseries (duḥkhālayam) but also temporary (aśāśvatam) (BG 8.15). Even if we want to live here amid miseries, material nature will not allow us to do so. It will oblige us to change bodies and enter another atmosphere full of miserable conditions.