Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 10 Chapter 14 Verse 26

Canto 10: The Summum Bonum | Chapter 14: Brahmā's Prayers to Lord Kṛṣṇa

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.14.26

ajñāna-saḿjñau bhava-bandha-mokṣau

dvau nāma nānyau sta ṛta-jña-bhāvāt

ajasra-city ātmani kevale pare

vicāryamāṇe taraṇāv ivāhanī

SYNONYMS

ajñāna — manifesting from ignorance; saḿjñau — which designations; bhava-bandha — bondage to material existence; mokṣau — and liberation; dvau — the two; nāma — indeed; na — not; anyau — separate; staḥ — are; ṛta — true; jña-bhāvāt — from knowledge; ajasra-citi — whose awareness is unimpeded; ātmani — the spirit soul; kevale — who is separate from matter; pare — who is pure; vicāryamāṇe — when he is properly distinguished; taraṇau — within the sun; iva — just as; ahanī — day and night.

TRANSLATION

The conception of material bondage and the conception of liberation are both manifestations of ignorance. Being outside the scope of true knowledge, they cease to exist when one correctly understands that the pure spirit soul is distinct from matter and always fully conscious. At that time bondage and liberation no longer have any significance, just as day and night have no significance from the perspective of the sun.

PURPORT

Material bondage is illusion because the living entity actually has no real relationship with the material world. Because of false ego, the conditioned soul identifies himself with matter. Therefore so-called liberation is simply the giving up of an illusion rather than release from actual bondage. Yet even if we think that the suffering of material illusion is real and that liberation is thus a meaningful release from suffering, the mere absence of material existence is still insignificant compared to the achievement of factual spiritual life, which is the positive eternal reality opposed to the negative illusion of material life. Ultimately, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or pure love of Godhead, is the only significant, meaningful and permanent status for every living entity.

Since the darkness of night is caused by the absence of the sun, one would not experience night within the sun itself, nor would one experience individual days separated by nights. Similarly, within the pure living entity there is no material darkness and thus no experience of liberation from such darkness. When the conditioned soul comes to this platform of pure consciousness, he becomes fit to associate with the supreme pure, the Personality of Godhead Himself, in the Lord's own abode.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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