72
Śrimad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 6, Ch. 15]
should be perfectly aware that these things will never be able to give him happiness. One must be situated in his spiritual identity and eternally serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead as a devotee. Aṅgirā Rṣi and Nārada Muni gave this instruction to Mahārāja Citraketu.
TEXT 24
दृश्यमाना विनार्थेन न दृश्यन्ते मनोभवाः । कर्मभिर्व्यायतो नानाकर्माणि मनसोऽभवन् ॥२४॥
dṛśyamānā vinārthena na dṛśyante manobhavāḥ karmabhir dhyāyato nānā- karmāṇi manaso 'bhavan
dṛśyamānāḥ—being perceived; vinā—without; arthena—substance or reality; na—not; dṛśyante—are seen; manobhavāḥ—creations of mental concoction; karmabhiḥ—by fruitive activities; dhyāyataḥ—meditating upon; nānā—various; karmāṇi—fruitive activities; manasaḥ—from the mind; abhavan—appear.
TRANSLATION
These visible objects like wife, children and property are like dreams and mental concoctions. Actually what we see has no permanent existence. It is sometimes seen and sometimes not. Only because of our past actions do we create such mental concoctions, and because of these concoctions, we perform further activities.
PURPORT
Everything material is a mental concoction because it is sometimes visible and sometimes not. At night when we dream of tigers and snakes, they are not actually present, but we are afraid because we are affected by what we envision in our dreams. Everything material is like a dream because it actually has no permanent existence.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thākura writes as follows in his commentary:  arthena vyāghra-sarpādinā vinaiva dṛśyamānāḥ svapnādi-bhaṅge sati na dṛśyante tad evaṁ dārādayo 'vāstava-vastu-bhūtāḥ svapnādayo