74 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 10, Ch. 1
TRANSLATION

When the luminaries in the sky, such as the moon, the sun and
the stars, are reflected in liquids like oil or water, they appear to be
of different shapes—sometimes round, sometimes long, and so
on—because of the movements of the wind. Similarly, when the
living entity, the soul, is absorbed in materialistic thoughts, he ac-
cepts various manifestations as his own identity because of ig-
norance. In other words, one is bewildered by mental concoctions
because of agitation from the material modes of nature.

PURPORT

This verse gives a very good example by which to understand the dif-
ferent positions of the eternal spiritual soul in the material world and
how the soul takes on different bodies (dehantara-praptih). The moon is
stationary and is one, but when it is reflected in water or oil, it appears to
take different shapes because of the movements of the wind. Similarly,
the soul is the eternal servant of Krsna, the Supreme Personality of God-
head, but when put into the material modes of nature, it takes different
bodies, sometimes as a demigod, sometimes a man, a dog, a tree and so
on. By the influence of mdyd, the illusory potency of the Supreme Per-
sonality of Godhead, the living entity thinks that he is this person, that
person, American, Indian, cat, dog, tree or whatever. This is called
maya. When one is freed from this bewilderment and understands that
the soul does not belong to any shape of this material world, one is situ-
ated on the spiritual platform (brahma-bhita).

This realization is sometimes explained as nirdkdra, or formlessness.
This formlessness, however, does not mean that the soul has no form.
The soul has form, but the external, agitating form he has acquired be-
cause of material contamination is false. Similarly, God is also described
as nirdkdra, which means that God has no material form but is sac-cid-
Gnanda-vigraha. The living entity is part and parcel of the supreme sac-
cid-Gnanda-vigraha, but his material forms are temporary, or illusory.
Both the living entity and the Supreme Lord have original, spiritual
forms (sac-cid-Gnanda-vigraha), but the Lord, the Supreme, does not
change His form. The Lord appears as He is, whereas the living entity
appears because material nature forces him to accept different forms.
