Text 1] The Forest of Enjoyment 3
madhukara-anupadavim—the road followed in pursuance of devotees
who are attached like bumblebees; avarundhe —gain.
TRANSLATION

When King Pariksit asked Sukadeva Gosvami about the direct
meaning of the material forest, Sukadeva Gosvami replied as
follows: My dear King, a man belonging to the mercantile com-
munity [vanik] is always interested in earning money. Sometimes
he enters the forest to acquire some cheap commodities like wood
and earth and sell them in the city at good prices. Similarly, the
conditioned soul, being greedy, enters this material world for
some material profit. Gradually he enters the deepest part of the
forest, not really knowing how to get out. Having entered the
material world, the pure soul becomes conditioned by the material
atmosphere, which is created by the external energy under the
control of Lord Visnu. Thus the living entity comes under the con-
trol of the external energy, daivi maya. Living independently and
bewildered in the forest, he does not attain the association of devo-
tees who are always engaged in the service of the Lord. Once in the
bodily conception, he gets different types of bodies one after the
other under the influence of material energy and impelled by the
modes of material nature [sattva-guna, rajo-guna and tamo-guna].
In this way the conditioned soul goes sometimes to the heavenly
planets, sometimes to the earthly planets and sometimes to the
lower planets and lower species. Thus he suffers continuously due
to different types of bodies. These sufferings and pains are some-
times mixed. Sometimes they are very severe, and sometimes they
are not. These bodily conditions are acquired due to the condi-
tioned soul’s mental speculation. He uses his mind and five senses
to acquire knowledge, and these bring about the different bodies
and different conditions. Using the senses under the control of the
external energy, maya, the living entity suffers the miserable con-
ditions of material existence. He is actually searching for relief,
but he is generally baffled, although sometimes he is relieved after
great difficulty. Struggling for existence in this way, he cannot get
